Tripping Announces Series A Investment Led by Recruit Holdings and Quest Venture Partners

SAN FRANCISCO - May 20, 2014 - PRLog -- Tripping, the world’s largest metasearch site for vacation rentals, today announced a Series A round of financing led by Recruit Holdings’ RGIP Fund and Quest Venture Partners. Additional participants in the round include former Expedia CEO Erik Blachford, Qunar founder Fritz Demopoulos, NFL athlete Shawntae Spencer, and other notable investors in Europe and Silicon Valley.

Entering its third year of operation as a metasearch site, Tripping is already the leading platform for vacation homes and short-term rentals. The site offers over 1 million properties across 50,000 cities worldwide, curated from over a dozen top travel rental sites including HomeAway, Booking.com, Wimdu, Interhome, HouseTrip, Flipkey and more.

Co-leading the round was Quest Venture Partners, a Silicon Valley firm that also led Tripping’s Series Seed. “We’re pleased to continue supporting the Tripping team and their mission to help travelers find amazing places to stay,” says Andrew Ogawa, Managing Partner. “We look forward to building awareness around the brand and sending qualified leads and bookings to Tripping’s partners.”

In conjunction with the announcement today, Recruit Holdings also revealed the formation of RGIP LLC, a 4.5 billion yen fund dedicated to corporate venture capital investments. Youngji Han, a Senior Vice President of RGIP, says “We are excited to announce that Tripping is our first investment. We’ve spent considerable time researching the rentals market and we believe that Tripping is in a prime position to become the leading global platform for non-hotel accommodation.”

One of the largest and most recognized companies in Asia, Recruit has deep holdings in travel. They’ve also gained visibility in the United States since their acquisition of the employment-related metasearch giant Indeed.com. Given their global footprint and relevant expertise, Recruit is a strong ally for Tripping.

“Tripping’s mission is to bring transparency to the market by giving travelers an easy way to search and compare vacation rentals in one place,” says Tripping CEO Jen O’Neal. “This capital will enable us to rapidly expand into new markets, innovate on our technology, and make strategic plays to secure our position as the world’s #1 metasearch site for vacation rentals.”

ABOUT TRIPPING

Headquartered in San Francisco, Tripping is the world's largest site for vacation homes and short-term rentals. With over 1 million properties spanning 50,000 cities, Tripping makes it easy to compare vacation rentals from the world’s top travel sites including HomeAway, HouseTrip, Flipkey, Interhome, Booking.com and more. To find an amazing vacation rental for your next trip, visit http://www.tripping.com.