Vacasa Raises $64 Million More for Vacation Rental Management
Skift Take
Vacasa, a property management company that uses technology to wring efficiencies out of vacation rental marketing and distribution, has secured a $64 million extension of its Series B round of financing.
The Portland, Oregon-based startup had already raised $103.5 million in a Series B led by Riverwood Capital, which has also led this follow-on funding. Vacasa has received $207.5 million, to date.
Founder and CEO Eric Breon said some of the new capital would go into its months-old program of connecting real estate agents with buyers and sellers of vacation properties. In the past year, nearly five percent of Vacasa homeowners sold their vacation rental, leading to a potential matchmaking opportunity between buyers and sellers. It has signed up 516 real estate agents to receive marketing and sales tools such as rental income projections.
Breon said providing services to homeowner associations and expanding the company’s international growth were other priorities.
Founded in 2009, Vacasa is now the largest, full-service vacation rental management company based in North America, by property count, with 10,600 properties worldwide under management in 23 U.S. states and 16 countries. The company said it has more than 2,500 workers — about 1,500 of whom are in the field and have served more than 1 million guests in the past year.
Simmering Sector
Interest in the vacation rental property management sector has been continuing to percolate worldwide.
This week, Hometime, Australia and New Zealand’s leading property management service company for short-term rentals, has announced the acquisition of Hey Tom, a Sydney-based Airbnb property management provider. Together the business units say their annualized revenue run-rate growth has more than tripled in the past 12 months.
London-based homestay management firm Hostmaker partnered with the real estate arm of BNP Paribas to offer diversified leases for residences that can be a mix of short, midterm, or long.
In August, Evolve Vacation Rental Network, the Denver, Colorado-based company that uses an a la carte model for services for owners, raised $80 million in the equivalent of a Series C round. The company has raised $103 million since its founding in 2011.
A couple of weeks ago, Vacasa acquired the inventory and hiring the employees of Oasis, a serviced home rentals platform. Hyatt had backed the company but took a $22 million impairment charge this summer.