HostGPO secures $6m investment for first external capital

US: HostGPO, a procurement marketplace for vacation rental hosts, has announced that it has closed a $6 million investment round – its first outside capital to date.

The round was led by venture capital firm Navitas Capital alongside OMNIA Partners, a leading group purchasing organisation in public and private sector procurement. 75&Sunny, a venture firm founded by Zillow and Pacaso co-founder, Spencer Rascoff, Brian Lee [co-founder of LegalZoom & The Honest Company] and PAR Capital Ventures also participated in the round.

The Los Angeles-based company, which aims to help vacation rental hosts efficiently and cost effectively procure furniture, supplies and other services to run their properties, will use the investment to fund technology development and enhance supplier relationships.

As a members-only marketplace and group purchasing organisation, HostGPO provides operators with a digital platform to procure goods and services at significant discounts, as well as digital tools to streamline the procurement and design process. The company works closely with a curated group of suppliers [i.e. furniture, appliances, home goods companies etc] to aggregate demand and bring them customers within its target segments.

HostGPO CEO Jeff Iloulian said: “Our mission has always been to support folks in growing their vacation rental businesses while elevating the quality of homes that they are able to offer. As a previous vacation rental operator, buying furniture and supplies was extremely challenging for me.

“With our investment partners behind us, we feel that HostGPO can continue creating an unbeatable platform that will make operating a rental easier and continue to unify a fragmented industry,” he added.

Travis Putnam, managing partner at Navitas Capital, said: “In the rapidly growing vacation home and short-term rental markets, HostGPO provides a critical piece of missing digital infrastructure. Jeff has done a tremendous job building HostGPO into the early market leader, bringing the greatest breadth of supply partners and digital purchasing tools to its more than 250,000 customer homes.

“As HostGPO continues to scale, Jeff will offer even more value to his rapidly growing customer base, making HostGPO an entrenched technology layer in the real estate industry,” added Putnam.

Todd Abner, co-founder and CEO of OMNIA Partners, said: “We’ve been extremely impressed with HostGPO’s growth to date and strong execution. As a large emerging category that can benefit from a GPO business model, and a clear market leading position, the future is bright for Jeff and his team.

Spencer Rascoff, founder of 75 & Sunny Ventures, and co-founder of Pacaso and Zillow, said: “I’m very excited to be an investor in HostGPO. While the vacation rental industry has seen exponential growth since Airbnb revolutionised the market 15 years ago, B2B solutions have not kept pace.

“HostGPO has emerged as a leader in the space, building the rails to streamline the procurement of goods and services for short-term rental property owners and operators across the industry,” he added.

HostGPO was recently shortlisted for the Most effective use of social media category at the 2023 Shortyz Awards, held in April in London.