Evolve Raises $100 Million for Vacation Rentals: Travel Startup Funding This Week

Travel Startup Funding This Week

Each week we round up travel startups that have recently received or announced funding. Please email Travel Tech Reporter Justin Dawes at jd@skift.com if you have funding news.

This week, travel startups announced more than $690 million in debt and equity investment.

>>AvantStay, a short-term rental property operator and marketer, has closed a $500 million non-equity funding round to create a company to hold its property assets. 

Saluda Grade, a real estate advisory and asset management firm, has backed this short-term rental fund, which will buy a half-billion dollars worth of residential property. Saluda Grande will own the homes, and AvantStay will be the property manager. See Skift's coverage.

>>Evolve, a vacation rental hospitality company, announced a $100 million capital raise.

Durable Capital Partners led the round.

Evolve, based in Denver, manages more than 19,000 vacation rentals, and it has raised $235 million.

Evolve considers the property manager Vacasa, which went public in December, to have a different business model, which leads to attracting different types of customers.

Unlike Vacasa, Evolve has an a la carte model. Its basic plan charges a 10 percent commission and doesn’t include housekeeping or maintenance but does include all aspects of driving rental income as an on-ramp to marketing a property on major channels like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo. Services include shooting professional photos, creating a listing, offering advice on rate-setting, and handling guest interac