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"Holiday rental site HouseTrip has announced a $40 million Series C funding round to expand into more territories and develop new products and services.\r\n\r\nThe round was led by Accel Partners with existing investors Index Ventures and Balderton Capital also in the mix.\u00A0Junjun Chen-Bertrand, Co-founder and CFO, hopes that the addition of Accel\u00A0Partners to its investor group will push the site further, \u201CWe are very excited to welcome Accel Partners as we look to expand internationally. Their experience in taking companies global will be a critical asset for the next phase of our growth,\u201D he says.\r\n\r\nHouseTrip was established in early 2010 with the aim of making the online rental process as simple as booking a hotel. On the other side of the bargain, the site is also designed to help property owners generate more income.\r\n\r\nThe site now carries 130,000 properties in more than 15,000 destinations. The company says that by the end of this year, travellers will have booked more than 3 million nights of accommodation via the site.\r\n\r\nAccording to HouseTrip, the business has seen rapid growth through building a standardised supply and choice system for each of the target cities it works in. It has a particular focus on Europe.\r\n\r\nNaturally pleased with today\u2019s announcement, Arnaud Bertrand, Co-founder and CEO of HouseTrip, says that the business grew out of a personal requirement that helped him spot a gap in the market.\r\n\r\n\u201CMy wife and I created HouseTrip on the back of a painful experience booking a holiday rental,\u201D he explains. \u201CWe knew there had to be a better way to discover and book holiday rental accommodation that was both anxiety-free and easy-to-use.\u201D\r\n\r\nImage Credit: Jeremy Vandel"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/10/09/housetrip-holiday-rental-site-secures-40m-series-c-and-heads-for-3-million-nights-of-accommodation-booked/>