France / UK: French home exchange platform HomeExchange has announced the acquisition of British competitor Love Home Swap.
The transaction will allow the company to strengthen its position in the UK, the United States and Australia, and expand its current base of approximately 108,000 members. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.
Co-founded by Emmanuel Arnaud and Charles-Edouard Girard and part of the Tukazza Group, HomeExchange employs around 100 people across France, the United States and Croatia.
To date, the company has raised around €54 million in funding since its inception. HomeExchange recorded 225,000 home exchanges in the whole of 2022, amounting to 3.7 million exchange nights booked – a 32 per cent rise on 2019 figures prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, a spokesperson told Le Figaro.
Last summer, the startup quietly raised €4 million to grow its presence in France. At the end of 2021, HomeExchange also launched sister brand HomeExchange Collection, which now supports 400 members and specialises in the exchange of high-end home swaps.
The acquisition is HomeExchange’s first purchase since early 2019, when it bought NightSwapping for an undisclosed amount.
Founded in 2009 and owned by RCI Europe [part of Wyndham Worldwide], Love Home Swap has a reported 10,000 subscriber members who exchange their holiday homes, chalets or apartments in more than 100 countries, including the United States, the UK, Australia, France and Spain. Its annual subscriptions typically range from €108 to €156.
Love Home Swap, which won consecutive Shortyz Awards in 2021 and 2022, will now become part of the Tukazza Group. It previously acquired Dutch competitor HomeForExchange in 2015 for a figure in between £1 million and £5 million.
The company’s most recent managing director, Celia Pronto, departed the business in December.
Girard said in a press release that the acquisition would allow HomeExchange to offer its members “an even larger community, and thus more opportunities to go on vacation”.
