HomeToGo Buys a Near-Death Tripping in Vacation Rental Rollup
Skift Take
The acquisition of once-high-flying Tripping.com as a distressed asset was a losing deal for investors. It's not clear what the payoff will be for HomeToGo acquiring a Silicon Valley rival at vacation rental price-comparison. HomeToGo faces daunting expectations now, having raised $150 million.
HomeToGo, a vacation rental price-comparison startup, has acquired the assets of Tripping.com three years after entering the U.S. market. It has also raised an undisclosed, multi-million dollar venture capital investment.
Tripping had once been the largest player in vacation rental metasearch, but has become a shell of a company after it burned through millions of dollars in cash on TV advertising, which led to spectacular in-fighting between its founders and its board.
The companies didn't disclose the terms of the transaction. However, one person close to Tripping and familiar with the deal said, "It wasn't a good outcome for anyone on the Tripping side."
Tripping had raised about $52 million to date. Its sale as a distressed asset is a sharp comedown from December 2016, when it announced a $35 million series C funding round.
Two sources close to Tripping told Skift that some Tripping investors participated in HomeToGo's latest round, and the sale of Tripping to HomeToGo was part of a very complex deal. Among Tripping's investors over the years were Princeville Global and Steadfast Venture Capital, among others. HomeToGo confirmed that Princeville Global is a current investor.
HomeToGo will continue to run Tripping as a separate brand.
More Funding
HomeToGo, based in Berlin, also disclosed that it had raised additional investment that brought its total raised to date to $150 million.
Industry observers estimated the undisclosed sum as likely being at least $28 million (€25 million). The company declined to say if the latest investment was an extension of its Series C round.
The sta
