Worldwide: Stay One Degree, a social network for luxury vacation rentals, is looking to raise £2m in its largest ever funding round, after bringing in 10,000 members in its first year.
The company, which counts supermodels, billionaires, Oscar-winning actors and sport stars among its ranks of members, is expected to launch its second round of fundraising in 2019 after successfully securing £1.2 million earlier this year.
Stay One Degree co-founder Thomas Bennett said he wanted to invest in technology and marketing in order to help the company expand its base of members and its network of over 1,200 properties around the world.
It offers discerning travellers the opportunity to access an exclusive social network through which to rent luxury vacation homes from friends, mutual contacts and members with similar interests in common.
The network lists properties which range from the boutique and niche to villas costing £35,400 per night, which come complete with spas, home cinemas and teams of staff. The properties can be found in some of the world’s most exotic and glamorous destinations, with rental owners including supermodel Jacquetta Wheeler.
Bennett told the i newspaper that the properties they take on must be “awe-inspiring”.
He said: It’s about passionate owners. We hand pick all of our homes.
“It’s about what makes you smile – one house might have an amazing view and another a great garden,” he added.
Stay One Degree has so far raised funds from the members of its network, with notable backers including Andrew Griffith, the chairman of Just Eat, and Alex Ham and Ross Mitchinson, the co-chief executives of stockbroker Numis Securities.
