HeyHolidays raises $1M in Series-A funding from Hampton Capital
Holiday rental startup HeyHolidays has raised $1 million funding from Hampton Capital.
The total funding commitment was for $1 million and in the form of a SAFE agreement, confirmed Co-founder Kenny Blatt to YourStory.
Funds will be used to increase Indian and foreign listings, invest in marketing to grow the customer base in India and key international markets.
Bengaluru-based HeyHolidays is a global company in the online short-stay accommodation space. The platform uses the concept of the shared economy to connect guests with local hosts for an authentic localised experience. It has all types of properties in the platform. The company currently operates in more than 100 countries with over 200,000 listings. In India, it is present across all major urban and resort destinations.
It is partnering with travel agents to take care of user's other needs like sightseeing, pick-up, drop etc. They plan to also increase the unique listings in holiday destinations, religious locations and heritage places.
Kenny said, “Our investors are very excited on the potential of the India travel market for both outbound and inbound travel. HeyHolidays has taken a very measured approach to create a solid technical backbone and foundation and focused on listings from key international destinations as well as the top urban and resort destinations in India. Our investors like the hospitality approach that we are taking to this sector of the business and our intense focus on the guest and host.”
Talking about its expansion plans, he added, “We are rapidly increasing our Indian listing base to capture the local market. In each country, our objective is to get maximum listings in order to give users more options to select from. Not only Indians, we also want foreigners to use our platform extensively. We are expanding our reach to foreigners visiting India as well as India diaspora globally. We are developing a unique referral and rewards programme.”
Over the next few years, HeyHolidays wants to be a dominant global player in the online accommodation market focused on the outbound and inbound India traveler and key international destinations. It will further develop the Hey brand across other travel sectors that cater to the needs and wants of our customers.
According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Google India report, ‘Demystifying the Indian Online Traveller’ Indian passenger travel market is projected to grow at 11-11.5 percent to $48 billion by 2020.
The global market leader in this space is Airbnb and India has other players like Nestaway, Homigo, Homelike among others.
