HomeAway Raises $250 Million on a Pre Money Valuation of $1.15 Billion

HomeAway, the aggregator of vacation rental sites has raised $250 million on a monster $1.15 billion dollar pre money valuation. They previously raised $209 million over two rounds which puts their total raised to $459 million.TechCrunch writes:

The pre-money valuation was around $1.15 billion, say a couple of sources, and at least $50 million of the round went off the table to earlier investors. The company was founded in 2005 and has grown primarily through acquisitions: They’ve acquired at least eleven vacation home rental sites, including VRBO, VacationRentals.com, Abritel.fr and OwnersDirect.co.uk…. 

It’s also clear that the round was seriously overvalued. Ebay was rumored to have mulled over an acquisition earlier this year at $1.5 billion, but it never came through with a firm offer. It’s not clear who else could be a buyer at this valuation. 

What in the world would HomeAway spend all this money on? They have already acquired most of the top rental vacation sites. It is possible they will continue to expand their products and services in the vacation rental space with new acquisitions like vacation reviews, property management software, and other services, but they may also be looking to expand into other rental categories like single family homes and apartments. At this valuation, few companies have the ability to acquire HomeAway. It looks like they may be looking at an exit with an IPO within the next 2-3 years.