- Vacation rental management platform Vacasa announced recently that it raised $319 million in a strategic investment round led by Silver Lake
Vacasa — the largest vacation rental management platform in North America — announced recently that it raised $319 million in a strategic investment round led by Silver Lake. And existing investors Riverwood Capital, Level Equity and NewSpring also joined the round.
“The opportunity that lies ahead of us is enormous, on both the property management and real estate side of the business,” said Eric Breon, founder and CEO of Vacasa. “We’re seeing an increased number of buyers looking to purchase vacation homes as an investment, with the intent to rent the property. We’re 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.”
The company’s integrated technology and services platform provides end-to-end vacation rental property management solutions to homeowners around the world. And Vacasa’s dynamic pricing and multi-channel distribution capabilities help homeowners that switch to Vacasa earn 31% more income on average in their first year.
“Vacasa has spent the past decade bringing innovation to the $100 billion global vacation rental industry,” added Joerg Adams, managing director at Silver Lake. “We believe Vacasa, with its differentiated technology platform that’s already the market leader in North America, has the potential to become a global brand that stands for superior financial returns for homeowners and exceptional experiences for guests.”
The guests who stay in Vacasa-managed homes have access to local onsite management, cleaned up homes, an intuitive mobile app, and a 24/7 guest services team. Vacasa now manages over 23,000 vacation homes and the company has hosted over 20 million guest nights since its founding in 2009.
“Vacasa’s revenue has grown almost seven-fold since our Series A investment nearly four years ago and we expect growth to accelerate in 2020,” explained Benjamin Levin, founder and partner of Level Equity.
With this round of funding, Vacasa plans to further enhance its technology platform, accelerate expansion into new markets, and grow new offerings such as Vacasa Real Estate — which evolved from an agent network into a sophisticated service model that includes brokerages in key vacation rental markets throughout the country.
“It is exceptionally rare to see this type of growth, and rarer still at this scale. As the market leader, Vacasa is distinguishing itself as the standard for quality and innovation in an industry with tremendous opportunity that is being fundamentally reshaped by technology,” commented Jeff Parks, co-founder and managing partner of Riverwood Capital.
J.P. Morgan had acted as sole placement agent and Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati served as legal advisor to Vacasa. And Ropes & Gray LLP served as legal advisor to Silver Lake.
