Musement Raises $10 Million for Tours and Activities: Travel Startup Funding This Week

Each week we create a roundup of travel startups that have received or announced funding that week. The total amount raised this week among companies we tracked was $16.8 million.

Here are four companies that announced they raised funding this week. You can see previous roundups here.

>>Tours and activities booking company Musement raised a $10 million Series B round from existing investor Micheli Associati. This brings the Milan, Italy-based company's total funding to $16.5 million. Launched in 2013, Musement has thousands of tours, sporting and musical events, galleries, museums, attractions, and insider activities bookable in more than 450 cities in 55 countries.

>>Vacasa, a vacation rental site based in Portland, Oregon, raised $5 million part of its Series A round. The site, founded in 2009, raised $35 million for its Series A in April and this latest funding brings its total Series A and overall funding to $40 million.

New investor Assurant, a travel risk management company, led the latest boost to Vacasa's Series A.

The company has more than 4,100 properties across the U.S., Spain, Italy, Chile, Costa Rica and Belize bookable on its site and employs more than 1,400 people.

Vacasa’s business revolves around signing up vacation rental owners, managing and marketing their properties, and providing distribution options to attract consumer bookings. There is a tech component to the offering in that Vacasa offers owners a yield management tool to optimally price rentals and drive revenue.

>>Buster, a booking site for ground transportation charters, raised a $1.1 million venture round led by Brand New Matter, Inc. with participation from existing investors General Catalyst, Allen & Company, Priceline Group Interim CEO Jeff Boyd and former Priceline.com CFO Bob Mylod. The Brooklyn, New York-based company's total funding now stands at $3.8 million.

The company recently announced that former Priceline.com executive Harald Kruse has been named CEO. Buster was launched in 2012 and lets travelers compare and book private group charters and is available in New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and San Francisco.

>>GuestReady, a UK-based guest management platform for Airbnb rentals, raised a $750,000 venture round from new investors Senn & Partner Holding Ltd., Georg Bauser, former director at Airbnb, and Swiss Founders Fund. GuestReady also raised an undisclosed seed round in August 2016. The site's services are available in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris, Kuala Lumpur, and Amsterdam.