This Week in Travel Startup Funding: Luxury Retreats Lands $11M Investment for Expansion

Each week we create a roundup of travel startups that have received or announced funding that week. The total amount raised this week was about $15.3 million.

Here are three companies that announced they raised funding this week, listed in order by the highest amount raised. See previous roundups here.

>>Luxury Retreats raised an $11 million Series B round from existing investor iNovia Capital bringing the luxury vacation rentals site’s total funding to $16 million.

Based in Montreal, Canada, Luxury Retreats was founded in 1999 and offers a network of more than 2,800 hand-picked private homes in 90 destinations around the world, far fewer properties than other vacation rentals sites like HomeAway. These homes are regularly inspected by the company’s staff and the site doesn’t have a membership program. This is the second round of venture capital funding for the company even though it’s about 16 years old, having bootstrapped prior to its first venture round in 2012.

The company said in a statement it’s “focused on refining its collection and operations in existing locations while continuing to develop new markets.”

>>HomeSuite raised a $2.3 million Seed round from new investors Battery Ventures, Foundation Capital, and Bessemer.

The San Francisco, California-based startup officially launched in January and focuses on finding furnished and corporate housing for travelers who typically sign up for leases of four to five months while they’re visiting a city. The company makes money by taking a percentage of the first rent payment ranging from 5 to 10% after a traveler signs a lease, with the cut decreasing on more expensive units. Currently HomeSuite is only in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area and wants to broaden the appeal of affordable, short-term housing rentals.

>>Booking Boss raised a $2 million Series A round from new investors Michael Dempsey, Scott Blume, Acequia Capital and Daniel Dempsey and this is the Sydney, Australia-based startup’s first funding round.

Booking Boss is a software as a service solution for tours and activities operators that combines booking and inventory management software with integrated point of sale and channel management functionality. The company has partnerships with major tours and activities sites such as Viator and Get Your Guide that allow its clients to manage their offerings across a wide range of sales channels. The site was founded in 2013 and plans to use its funding to expand to European markets after making its base in the Australian market.