US-based holiday home rental platform Tripping has been acquired by its Germany-based peer HomeToGo for an undisclosed amount, providing an exit for human resources firm Recruit Holdings.
Founded in 2010, Tripping has built a metasearch engine that scours third-party holiday accommodation booking platforms such as HomeAway and TripAdvisor, enabling users to compare short-term holiday homes across a range of providers.
The company has indexed more than 12 million properties to date and will continue to operate as a separate brand following the acquisition.
Tripping most recently closed a $35m series C round in 2016 led by investment firm Princeville Global, with participation from Adams Street Partners and unnamed existing investors.
Steadfast Venture Capital had led a $16m series B round for the company that included Seas Venture Partners, Enspire Capital, Azure Capital and assorted angel investors the year before.
Recruit’s overseas investment unit, RGIP, and Draper Associates co-led a series A round of undisclosed size for Tripping in 2014 that also featured assorted private investors, after Quest, Draper and LaunchCapital had supplied $1m in seed funding in 2011.
Patrick Andrae, chief executive and co-founder of HomeToGo said: “I am particularly proud that HomeToGo acquired our strongest competitor Tripping.com just three years after entering the US market.
“After all, it is not every day that a technology company from Europe takes over an established American company.”
HomeToGo disclosed the acquisition at the same time as a funding round of undisclosed size that increased its overall funding to more than $150m. It had previously disclosed $28.8m in funding across three rounds between 2014 and 2016.
The company’s shareholders include Insight Venture Partners, Acton Capital Partners, DN Capital, Global Founders Capital (GFC), Lakestar and Princeville, and it has previously named Rocket Internet, the e-commerce holding company affiliated with GFC, as an earlier backer.
