Vacation Rentals and Luxury Trips: Startups Raise $106 Million

21.07.2024 - 12:19 / skift.com / Justin Dawes

Short-term rental platforms have not been raising money in 2024 quite as often as last year. But they made a bit of a comeback this week with two niche platforms getting nearly $50 million in funding. 

One is a growing platform for renting camper vans — interestingly, a much smaller U.S. competitor shut down in the last year for lack of funding. The other is for renting “handpicked” vacation rentals in Europe, a startup founded by several former Airbnb employees.

Six travel startups announced fundraises in the past week totaling over $100 million. 

Indie Campers, a platform for renting RVs and camper vans, has raised $38.1 million (€35 million). 

Indico Capital Partners led the round, with support from Cedros Capital and GED Ventures.

The Lisbon-based startup says it rents 7,000 of its own vehicles as well as others owned by individual and professional hosts. The vehicles are available in Europe, Oceania, and North America. 

The funding will go toward developing the digital platform, adding new products and services, hiring, and expanding globally. 

Planned, a sourcing and booking platform for events, has raised $35 million in series B funding.

Drive Capital led the round, with support from Outsiders Fund and two other undisclosed firms.

The company has now raised a total of $65 million.

Montreal-based Planned said the funding will go toward expanding AI-powered capabilities, global expansion, and adding travel booking capabilities.  

(See Skift’s story.)

Landfolk, a vacation rental platform founded by former Airbnb employees, has raised $11.2 million (€10.3 million) in series A funding.

EIFO led the round, with support from SEED Capital and Heartland.

Denmark-based Landfolk says it helps owners rent their vacations homes during the majority of the year when they normally would sit empty. The company says there are 1.3 million vacation homes in northern Europe, and 85% of them are unused for an average of 300 days per year. 

The startup has more than 3,000 homes in its portfolio in Denmark, Norway, Germany, and Sweden. The tech platform includes connections with cleaning companies so that owners can automate housekeeping.

The funding will go toward expanding into other European markets, improving product automation, and increasing marketing. 

Moving Tech Innovations, the startup behind Indian mobility apps Namma Yatri and Yatri Sathi, has raised a pre-series A funding round of $11 million.

Blume Ventures and Antler co-led the round, with support from Google and other investors.

The Namma Yatri app allows consumers to book rides with auto rickshaws, taxis, and public transport. It’s available in several Indian cities including Bengaluru and Delhi. Yatri Sathi, an app based on the same model, is managed