Vacasa, the US-based holiday accommodation provider backed by insurance firm Assurant, secured $319m today in a funding round led by technology investment firm Silver Lake.
The round valued the company at more than $1bn according to Skift and included private equity firm Riverwood Capital, growth equity firm Level Equity and investment firm NewSpring.
Vacasa’s online platform lists more than 23,000 managed properties around the world that can be booked for short-term holiday accommodation.
Homeowners can generate revenue through otherwise underused holiday homes, and the company also offers property management services while utilising dynamic pricing technology to maximise returns.
The new funding will support technology development and entry into new countries in addition to expanding side offerings such as its holiday property brokerage platform, Vacasa Real Estate.
Eric Breon, Vacasa’s founder and CEO, said: “The opportunity that lies ahead of us is enormous, on both the property management and real estate side of the business. We are seeing an increased number of buyers looking to purchase vacation homes as an investment, with the intent to rent the property.
“We are uniquely positioned to assist our homeowners through the entire lifecycle of their vacation home and are dedicated to continued advancement of our technology to meet the needs of our customers.”
Vacasa has now raised $527m altogether, having received $64m just over a year ago, in a round led by Riverwood Capital and backed by Assurant corporate venturing vehicle Assurant Growth Investing (AGI) as well as Level Equity and NewSpring.
Riverwood had already led a $104m series B round featuring Level Equity and NewSpring in late 2017 which followed a series A round closed at $40m the year before when Assurant added $5m to $35m already supplied by Level Equity.
