US: Vacation rental management platform Vacasa has announced a $319 million strategic investment round led by Silver Lake, a global leader in technology investing.
Existing investors Riverwood Capital, Level Equity, and NewSpring also participated in the capital raise. According to Vacasa, the company’s valuation has now exceeded $1 billion following the funding announcement.
The company’s integrated technology and services platform aims to provide end-to-end vacation rental property management solutions to homeowners across the globe. Its best-in-class dynamic pricing and multi-channel distribution capabilities also help homeowners that switch to Vacasa earn a reported 31 per cent more income on average in their first year.
Guests who stay in Vacasa-managed homes have access to local onsite management, professionally cleaned homes, a mobile app and a dedicated 24/7 guest services team.
With its scalable platform, Vacasa claims to manage more than 23,000 vacation homes and to have hosted over 20 million guest nights since its founding in 2009.
Silver Lake managing director Joerg Adams said: “Vacasa has spent the past decade bringing innovation to the $100 billion global vacation rental industry.
“We believe Vacasa, with its differentiated technology platform that’s already the market leader in North America, has the potential to become a global brand that stands for superior financial returns for homeowners and exceptional experiences for guests,” added Adams.
With the latest financing, Vacasa says it plans to further enhance its technology platform, accelerate expansion into further global markets and grow new offerings including Vacasa Real Estate. The latter has evolved from an agent network to a robust service model that includes brokerages in key vacation rental markets throughout the country.
Vacasa founder and CEO, Eric Breon, said: “The opportunity that lies ahead of us is enormous, both on the property management and real estate side of the business.
“We’re seeing an increased number of buyers looking to purchase vacation homes as an investment, with the intent to rent the property. We’re uniquely positioned to assist our homeowners through the entire lifecycle of their vacation home and are dedicated to continued advancement of our technology to meet the needs of our customers,” he added.
Level Equity founder and partner, Ben Levin, said: “Vacasa’s revenue has grown almost seven-fold since our Series A investment nearly four years ago and we expect growth to accelerate in 2020.”
Jeff Parks, co-founder and managing partner of Riverwood Capital, said: “It is exceptionally rare to see this type of growth, and rarer still at this scale. As the market leader, Vacasa is distinguishing itself as the standard for quality and innovation in an industry with tremendous opportunity that is being fundamentally reshaped by technology.”
J.P. Morgan acted as sole placement agent, while Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati served as legal advisor to Vacasa. Ropes & Gray LLP served as legal advisor to Silver Lake.
For more information, visit the Vacasa website here.
