Well, the following news makes me a little bit proud – since I picked Holidu back in 2014 to be part of the pitch competition of our first EU-Startups Conference.
Today, Holidu, the search engine for vacation rentals, has announced the closing of a €5 million Series A financing round for accelerated growth and expansion of the business model. The round was led by EQT ventures, whose partners include Kees Koolen (former CEO of Booking.com) and Lars Jörnow (former VP Mobile at King.com). Other investors include VC funds Venture Stars and Senovo who joined existing angel investors led by Munich-based Australian entrepreneur Chris Hitchen.
Holidu compares over 3 million vacation rentals worldwide and helps users save time and money when searching for the ideal accommodation. The search engine scans vacation rental offers from hundreds of websites and uses proprietary image recognition technology to identify the lowest price for each rental. With this capability, Holidu is well-placed to capitalize on a $100 billion global market for holiday homes.
Holidu was founded in July 2014 by brothers Johannes and Michael Siebers together with Rasmus Porsgaard and currently employs 20 people. The service is already available in English, German, French, Spanish, and Dutch.
Johannes Siebers, CEO and Co-Founder of Holidu commented: ”We want to create a completely new experience for finding and booking a holiday home and have found great partners who share our vision. The unique expertise and broad network of our investors, including industry veterans such as Kees Koolen, will help us to further accelerate our growth internationally.”
Kees Koolen, Partner at EQT Ventures and former CEO and Chairman of Booking.com said: “The vacation rental market is highly fragmented and provides a huge opportunity in travel. Holidu has developed impressive technology and traction in a very short time period. We are excited to work with this excellent and highly committed team to seize the opportunity.”
