HostGPO – a group purchasing organization and marketplace for vacation rental hosts to efficiently and cost-effectively procure furniture, supplies, and other services to run their properties – announced it has closed a $6 million round, its first outside capital to date. Navitas Capital, a venture investor focused on early-stage and built-world technology startups led the round alongside OMNIA Partners, the largest group purchasing organization in public and private sector procurement. And Navitas and OMNIA will help HostGPO accelerate its market-leading position by bringing expertise across technology development, real estate marketplaces, procurement know-how, and supply relationships.
Also investing in this round is 75&Sunny, the venture firm founded by Spencer Rascoff (Founder, 75 & Sunny Ventures, and co-founder of Zillow and Pacaso), Brian Lee (Co-Founder of LegalZoom & The Honest Company), and PAR Capital Ventures.
HostGPO is also going to greatly benefit from the vast industry knowledge and relationships possessed by incumbent group purchasing organization OMNIA Partners. And with second-to-none industry relationships and decades of experience negotiating contracts with suppliers on behalf of a fragmented industry of buyers, OMNIA sees HostGPO as the clear market leader in an exciting new category.
KEY QUOTES:
“Our mission has always been to support folks in growing their vacation rental businesses while elevating the quality of homes that they are able to offer. As a previous vacation rental operator, buying furniture and supplies was extremely challenging for me. With our investment partners behind us, we feel that HostGPO can continue creating an unbeatable platform that will make operating a rental easier and continue to unify a fragmented industry.”
— Jeff Iloulian, Chief Executive Officer of HostGPO
“In the rapidly growing vacation home and short term rental markets, HostGPO provides a critical piece of missing digital infrastructure. Jeff has done a tremendous job building HostGPO into the early market leader, bringing the greatest breadth of supply partners and digital purchasing tools to its more than 250,000 customer homes. As HostGPO continues to scale, Jeff will offer even more value to his rapidly growing customer base, making HostGPO an entrenched technology layer in the real estate industry.”
— Travis Putnam, Managing Partner at Navitas Capital
“We’ve been extremely impressed with HostGPO’s growth to date and strong execution. As a large emerging category that can benefit from a GPO business model, and a clear market leading position, the future is bright for Jeff and his team.”
— Todd Abner, Co-Founder and CEO, OMNIA Partners
“I’m very excited to be an investor in HostGPO. While the vacation rental industry has seen exponential growth since Airbnb revolutionized the market 15 years ago, B2B solutions have not kept pace. HostGPO has emerged as a leader in the space, building the rails to streamline the procurement of goods and services for short-term rental property owners and operators across the industry.”
— Spencer Rascoff, Founder of 75 & Sunny Ventures, and co-founder of Pacaso and Zillow
