Last week, HomeAway the parent company to VRBO.com (and the key player in the Villa rental space) filed for their IPO. At the time of writing this post, their valuation had increased from its IPO price of $27 to $37.74, giving it a valuation of more than a $3 billion in market capitalization.
What does this mean for Villa.com and the brand that it can become? This can only be positive.
HomeAway’s filings indicated that it produced revenues of $167.9 million in 2010, and that at present, it has approximately 500,000 listings across all of its properties. For those scoring at home, this equates to an average annual revenue of $335 per listing and a $6,000 per listing contribution to their overall valuation.
Key to their growth is targeting the 6,000,000 villas and vacation properties that exist right now. And it appears that a key part of their growth strategy is to use some of their raised funds to grow through acquisition.
As we build out Villa.com properly, turning it into a real business, we will definitely have to introduce ourselves.
ADDENDUM:
It looks like iStopOver has acquired Vacapedia. Terms are not disclosed, but it shows more M&A activity in the space.
