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Holiday-rentals US parent gains $160m funding
HomeAway, the US parent company of www.holiday-rentals.co.uk, has secured a $160 million in debt and equity financing to fund continued expansion.
The funding has enabled the company to acquire its main rival – “rent-by-owner” US holiday rental website VRBO.com (Vacation Rentals by Owner) representing 65,000 properties worldwide.
The addition of VRBO.com gives HomeAway more than 130,000 properties in nearly 100 countries. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
VRBO.com will continue to operate as an independent brand run by the existing management team with the combined companies expecting to attract an estimated 100 million unique visitors in 2007.
VRBO.com joins the HomeAway portfolio of vacation rental websites: HomeAway.com, CyberRentals.com, GreatRentals.com, A1Vacations.com, TripHomes.com, Holiday-Rentals.co.uk in the UK and FeWo-direkt.de in Germany.
HomeAway said the funding represented the largest financing of an internet software and services company in the US this year, according to Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ.
Existing investors Austin Ventures and Redpoint Ventures and new investors American Capital (ACAS), Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) and Trident Capital provided the financing. Since being founded in February 2005, HomeAway has raised more than $200 million in capital.
Proceeds from the financing will fund additional acquisitions of leading vacation rental websites to increase rental inventory, boost marketing efforts to grow traffic, and continue the development of technology that improves the experience of locating and renting homes online, according to the company
Founder and chief executive Brian Sharples said: “Vacation rentals are a great value for leisure travellers and HomeAway is committed to expanding the market by making it as easy as possible for travellers to locate, compare and secure properties through the internet.
“The unprecedented number of people who own second homes in the US and Europe means the supply of quality rental properties has never been stronger and that owners are now realising the ease and great return on investment of marketing online. This financing enables HomeAway to grow its worldwide marketplace even more quickly.”
Report by Phil Davies
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