Vacation Rental Site HomeAway Nabs $250 Million Round
This story was written by Tameka Kee.
Not quite content, but definitely notable, vacation rentals site HomeAway has picked up a huge $250 million in funding. Bits says its the largest round raised by a tech company since 2000 (when MetroPCS, which went public in 2007, picked up $350 million). Technology Crossover Ventures, which is also a big investor in TheStreet.com (NSDQ: TSCM), led the round, investing $175 million; previous investors Institutional Venture Partners and Redpoint Ventures also participated. Founded four years ago, HomeAway has raised a total of $410 million in funding, including a $160 million round in November 2006.
CEO and founder Brian Sharples says HomeAway plans to use the new funds to pay down its $88 million in debt, buy back shares from employees, and on acquisitionsthe company has snapped up 10 competitors in the past four years, including VRBO and VacationRentals.com in the U.S., and four sites in Europe. It does face increased competition from bigger companies like Orbitz and TripAdvisor that have begun to play in the vacation rentals market, but Sharples said HomeAway's value proposition can't be beat: It costs $300 to list a property for a year, and on average, users earned $20,000 in rental income annually. He also said the company is profitableon track to bring in just under $100 million in sales this year.
By Tameka Kee