This article was published on October 9, 2012

HouseTrip holiday rental site secures $40m series C and heads for 3 million nights of accommodation booked


HouseTrip holiday rental site secures $40m series C and heads for 3 million nights of accommodation booked

Holiday rental site HouseTrip has announced a $40 million Series C funding round to expand into more territories and develop new products and services.

The round was led by Accel Partners with existing investors Index Ventures and Balderton Capital also in the mix. Junjun Chen-Bertrand, Co-founder and CFO, hopes that the addition of Accel Partners to its investor group will push the site further, “We are very excited to welcome Accel Partners as we look to expand internationally. Their experience in taking companies global will be a critical asset for the next phase of our growth,” he says.

HouseTrip was established in early 2010 with the aim of making the online rental process as simple as booking a hotel. On the other side of the bargain, the site is also designed to help property owners generate more income.

The site now carries 130,000 properties in more than 15,000 destinations. The company says that by the end of this year, travellers will have booked more than 3 million nights of accommodation via the site.

According to HouseTrip, the business has seen rapid growth through building a standardised supply and choice system for each of the target cities it works in. It has a particular focus on Europe.

Naturally pleased with today’s announcement, Arnaud Bertrand, Co-founder and CEO of HouseTrip, says that the business grew out of a personal requirement that helped him spot a gap in the market.

“My wife and I created HouseTrip on the back of a painful experience booking a holiday rental,” he explains. “We knew there had to be a better way to discover and book holiday rental accommodation that was both anxiety-free and easy-to-use.”

Image Credit: Jeremy Vandel

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