Vacation
rental search engine and software provider Holidu has raised $45 million in Series D funding,
bringing the company’s total funding to more than $120 million since its launch
in 2014.
The round
was led by led by 83North with participation from existing investors Prime
Ventures, EQT Ventures, Coparion, Senovo, Kees Koolen, Lios Ventures and Chris
Hitchen. Claret Capital also participated with both equity and debt.
Holidu
says the new funding will be used to accelerate the growth of its vacation
rental search engine and its vacation rental software business, Bookiply. The
company plans to double its technology team, invest in new partnerships for
supply acquisition and open more Bookiply offices across Europe.
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“The
desire to travel again is huge and holiday rentals are perfectly suited to
serve the rebound. Despite ongoing lockdowns, our bookings in 2021 are already
significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels of 2019, and we expect demand to
soar this summer,” says Johannes Siebers, co-founder and CEO of Holidu.
“With
Bookiply, we have become the number one supplier of vacation rentals in several
regions. Thanks to our regional approach and our technologically optimized processes,
we are able to economically acquire new vacation rentals. This round of
financing is a testament to how far we’ve come in that regard and how much
opportunity is still ahead of us.”
Holidu’s
search engine is active in 21 countries with more than 15 million vacation
rental listings. Despite the pandemic, the company says its revenues grew
substantially in 2020 compared to 2019, and in July 2020, 27 million travelers
used its site.
“We
have been quick to build new features that users want in the current situation,
for example flexible cancellation and payment solutions. With this funding, we
will invest further in product development and will double our technology
organization,” says Michael Siebers, Holidu co-founder and CTO.
The
company’s last funding came in September 2020 with a €5 million
investment added to a Series C round that it first secured in the summer of
2019.