HomeAwayHomeAway, the world’s largest online marketplace for vacation rentals, announced Tuesday that it has bought travelmob, an online startup for vacation rental properties in Asia.
The Austin-based company reported that the all cash deal is expected to close in a few weeks.
At close, travelmob management will retain a 37 percent stake in the business and they will continue to operate as an independent brand, based in Singapore.
The price and terms of the deal were not disclosed. But HomeAway reported it expects to “incur about $2.0 million in additional expense to further grow the travelmob business,” according to a news statement.
In March, HomeAway and travelmob struck up a strategic partnership with travelmob, which features more than 14,000 Asia Pacific short-term rental listings including luxury villas, urban apartments, houseboats, a private island and even some shared spaces on its site.
CEO Turochas Fuad and CTO Prashant Kirtane, cofounded travelmob in 2012. The site has 16 employees. Early investors of the start-up include Jungle Ventures, Accel Partners and private investors, including Dan Neary, vice president of Asia Pacific at Facebook.
“Economists note over 100 million people will enter the Asian middle class each of the next several years, and Asia will have an increasing influence over the world’s economic growth. We believe this will have significant implications for not only travel but also for the purchase of homes, both of which drive HomeAway’s growth,” Brian Sharples, chief executive officer of HomeAway, said in a news statement. “We view Asia as a region where we can build tremendous incremental value for our shareholders and existing customers over the next several years. Given this opportunity, we’re excited to work with the experienced travelmob team to address today’s market needs in Asia – where vacation rentals are mostly new, but alternative accommodations are not – to build scale and accelerate the development of the vacation rental industry.”