Whimstay Secures $10 Million Investment After Raising $1.7 Million From Retail Investors On StartEngine

While well-known players in the vacation rental space, such as Vrbo and Airbnb Inc. own a majority of the market, there’s plenty of room for up-and-coming startups to disrupt the industry. That’s exactly what Whimstay is doing in the last-minute vacation rental niche. 

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In its early days, Whimstay used StartEngine to raise capital. The company was successful to the tune of $1.7 million. But it didn’t stop there. Whimstay recently raised another $10 million, this time in the form of equity financing from private investors.

StartEngine is a crowdfunding platform that allows anyone to invest in startups, private companies and collectibles. Founded by Howard Marks in 2014, investors can get started for less than $100. 

What’s Next For Whimstay?

Even without $10 million in equity financing, Whimstay was already a market leader for last-minute vacation rental bookings. The company is now in a position to accelerate its growth, with the investment being used to fund new hires and build out new products with a focus on search experience, pricing and enhanced loyalty and rewards programs. 

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Despite challenging market conditions, Whimstay secured the financing needed to take the company to the next level.

"Closing our financing amidst a myriad of extremely challenging market conditions is a testament to the caliber of our amazing team, our differentiated product offering, the quality of our partner and customer relationships, the size of our market opportunity and the confidence our investors have in our ability to strengthen our position as the leading vacation rental marketplace focused on booking last-minute stays," Whimstay CEO David Weiss said.

Rather than replace the work of property managers, Whimstay complements its distribution strategy by providing an advanced and comprehensive level of features focused on booking more last-minute stays. 

“Bookings on Whimstay are up seven times year to date versus the same period last year, and March was our highest booking month in the company's history,” Weiss added. “Guest traffic and bookings are further accelerating due to our recent integration into Google Vacation Rentals, giving us access to millions of potential guests."

Even though Whimstay is in a better financial position than ever, its focus remains the same: to help property owners and managers book nights that would have otherwise gone unrented. Lost revenue represents a $60 billion market opportunity, and with that in mind, it’s clear why investors are excited about Whimstay’s future. 

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