Germany: Munich-based holiday rental booking portal Holidu has announced that it has closed a $98 million [€100 million+] Series E funding round to expand in Germany and across Europe.
The Series E round was led by global venture capital firm 83North, with participation from new investors including Northzone, HV Capital, Vintage Investment Partners and Commonfund Capital, and existing investors such as Prime Ventures, EQT Ventures, coparion, Senovo, Lios Ventures and Possible Ventures.
The round also includes a venture debt component of $24.5+ million [€25+ million] of funding from Claret Capital and Silicon Valley Bank.
Founded in 2014 by brothers Johannes and Michael Siebers, Holidu has scaled rapidly as a booking platform, reaching more than 110 million visitors in the last 12 months.
In the meantime, Holidu has also its established software and service solution for hosts called Bookiply, which aims to help single property owners generate more bookings with less effort and create a reliable guest experience.
In the past three years, According to Holidu, the number of managed Bookiply homes has grown from 5,000 to nearly 20,000 in the past three years, while revenues from Bookiply homes have grown 13 times from the pre-pandemic year 2019 to 2022. It now accounts for more than half of the Holidu Group’s revenues.
Bookiply is now active in 19 local offices across Europe and has expanded into Spain and Italy. and has become the market leader by the number of managed properties in several key tourist areas in Spain and Italy. In recent months, Holidu’s software subsidiary has completed the strategic acquisitions of Lohospo, a service company for hosts and destination marketing organisations [DMOs], and my.IRS [with the software TOMAS], a specialist in destination management in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as it builds its market leadership in the DACH market.
Holidu is planning to use the investment to roll out more local office locations in Europe, unlock organic and inorganic growth in existing markets, and drive additional product investments.
Johannes Siebers, co-founder and CEO of Holidu, said: “We see that our company delivers true value to hosts and guests, which is reflected in our very strong host retention and guest satisfaction. We will now scale our region-by-region approach into Europe’s large and attractive hosting market.
“This financing round is a great vote of confidence in the current environment. We are on the path to building a big company,” he added.
Michael Siebers, co-founder and CTO of Holidu, said: “Holidu has always aimed to solve customers’ problems by leveraging the best technologies and data. Our goal is to build the world’s best software and service platform for hosts and make the guest experience reliable and great.”
Laurel Bowden, partner at 83North: “The Holidu team are excellent operators which is crucial to serve the fragmented long tail of holiday rentals with great unit economics and to bring the market to the next level. The team stands in front of a large roll-out opportunity.
“We are thrilled to be part of the journey and look forward to the road ahead,” added Bowden.
The latest round takes the total investment to date in Holidu to approximately $200 million [€203 million], having last raised $45 million in a Series D funding round last May. Last October, Holidu announced that it had acquired holiday rental platform Spain-Holiday for an undisclosed amount to merge with Bookiply, and the travel tech company may look to pursue more product acquisitions in the near future.
