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With this funding, Le Collectionist ramps up its marketing of luxury vacation rentals. But Airbnb and other tech and lodging brands may not let this profitable segment be siphoned off by this and other young startups for long.
Each week we round up travel startups that have recently received or announced funding. The total raised this week was more than $30 million.
Earlier this week we covered tour operator Context Travel’s $5 million fundraising. Here are other companies that announced they raised funding:
>>Le Collectionist, an upscale villa rental marketplace, raised $10 million in a Series A equity round of investment. The company had previously raised $2.2 million.
The company has already spent some of the money by acquiring Bonder & Co., an Ibiza-based specialist in vacation rentals. Its 2,300 properties will be added to the group.
Venture fund Red River West led the round. It funded half from Artemis, the holding company of France’s Pinault family, and then the rest from individual investor families in France, Canada, and the U.S. Other investors, such as Partech Ventures and XAnge, also participated.
The home rental service offers access to properties ranging from chalets and castles to private islands. To compete with Accor’s OneFineStay and many other upscale rivals, this startup offers a hotel-style concierge.
Prior the fund-raising, 4-year-old Le Collectionist had 30 full-time employees at its headquarters in Paris and 12 local offices with part-time workers. Post-funding (and including employees from Bonder & Co.), it will have 40 full-time workers. It wants to have 100 offices worldwide by 2020.
Two Artemis members will join the board, which is otherwise composed of the three founders (Olivier Cahané, Max Aniort, and Eliott Cohen-Skalli), two other investors, and an independent advisor.
>>Victor, an on-demand jet charter marketplace, has received a $10 million strategic investment from BP Ventures, the investment arm of BP. That adds to Victor’s recent $10 million Series B funding.
Founded in 2011, Victor helps travelers find the best private jet charters of various types, ranging from short-range to super-luxe to long-range. It has now raised $44.45 million of funding to date. The company will use some of the fresh funding to expand its New York headquarters.
>>Sn-ap, a U.K. startup that offers on-demand, intercity coach travel booking service (think a BlaBlaCar for buses), has raised $2.7 million, or £2 million, in equity investment.
Early-stage fund Kindred Capital led the round. Several private investors also participated.
Sn-ap had previously raised $1.35 million, or £1 million, in seed funding from angel investors.
The company asks users to choose their preferred pickup point and destination and dates of travel. Then its system plays matchmaker with other travelers and local coach bus operators. If there’s a match, the trip takes place. The company says it has booked routes that have carried 25,000 passengers to date.
It is operating on routes between East Midlands and London, but the funding will let it expand.
>>Loftium, a company that fronts down payments on mortgages in exchange for receiving most of the revenue from renting out spare bedrooms on Airbnb, raised $2.5 million in funding.
DFJ (Draper Fisher Jurvetson) led the round. Other firms Founders Co-op and NextView Ventures also participated.
The company has been testing in Seattle, its home base, but this funding will allow it to expand.
Check out our previous startup funding roundups, here.
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Tags: funding, startups, vcroundup
Photo credit: Le Collectionist, a vacation rental marketplace startup, was founded in 2013 by three entrepreneurs shown here: Olivier Cahané (left), Max Aniort, and Eliott Cohen-Skalli (right). Le Collectionist