Spanish Apartment-Share Site Only-Apartments Goes Public, Sort Of

Spanish apartment-share site Only-Apartments has beaten Airbnb to the public markets -- in a way.

Only-Apartments, which has raised $4.7 million in funding and offers some 25,000 short-term rentals, mostly in Europe, has been accepted to list its share on the Alternative Spanish Stock Exchange (MAB).

There will be no IPO-like public offering, but shares of Only-Apartments will trade on the exchange, which is geared for small-cap companies looking for growth.

Alon Eldar, founding partner of Only-Apartments, says "going public" will enable the company to "fast-track the process of internationalization."

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Barcelona, the company claims to be "the first European sharing-economy business in the tourism industry to go public."

Rival Airbnb has raised $776 million in funding, and currently has not concrete plans to go public.