Vacasa today announced a $35 million funding round — the largest of any Portland-based company in nearly two years and the largest of any vacation rental management company since 1998.
“Over the next year, Vacasa will be expanding both organically and through acquisitions to many of the great vacation rental markets in which we don’t yet have a presence,” said Vacasa CEO Eric Breon.
The vacation rental website had bootstrapped since launching in 2009 before this Series A round led by Level Equity.
Last fall, Vacasa added Kuljeet Singh as COO. Singh previously served as senior vice president with Florida-based Pods Moving and Storage and in executive and management positions at retailer Home Depot and Ikea. By bringing Singh on board, Vacasa was able to add the experience with large distributed organizations that investors prefer.
Vacasa employs more than 1,000 people that oversee more than 3,500 vacation homes in 135 markets across the U.S., Europe, Central America, and South America.
Vacasa is currently the second largest vacation rental management company behind Wyndham Vacation Rentals and offers marketing, rate optimization, reservations, guest services, housekeeping, maintenance, etc. — to help homeowners earn money off their property.
According to GeekWire, Eric Breon said that Vacasa does not have any direct competition.
“Vacasa is the only full-service, tech-enabled property management company on the market today,” he said.
When asked about Airbnb, Breon said, “Airbnb plays in the peer-to-peer space, which has grown quickly. We see Airbnb as the eBay of our industry, while we view ourselves as the Amazon of our industry.”
Vacasa will use the new money to expand around the world and double its workforce in 2016. The company will also move into a 40,000 square foot office in June.
RSS