Pabio

Pabio is a rent-to-own furniture startup that combines personalized interior design with flexible furniture subscriptions, with a mission to democratize beautiful living. Customers upload their apartment floor plan and photos, and professional interior designers create personalized proposals with photorealistic 3D renders showing how their fully furnished apartment will look. With no upfront costs, customers could rent furniture valued at approximately $20,000 with delivery and installation within 3 weeks.

Furniture is delivered, assembled, and fully insured for a monthly subscription fee—typically under €200 for a one-bedroom apartment. Monthly payments go toward ownership, allowing customers to buy individual pieces or continue renting indefinitely. The sustainable model retrieves furniture when customers move out, refurbishes it, and places it in new apartments at discounted prices.

Backed by Y Combinator (S21) and investors including Swiss Startup Group, Serpentine Ventures, Session.VC, Tomahawk.VC, and Pioneer Fund, Pabio raised $2.2 million in seed funding. As one of the first companies founded in Switzerland to receive Y Combinator investment, Pabio started in Switzerland and expanded to Berlin, Germany in December 2021.