Venture Capital Firm Redpoint Leads Major Funding Round for 9flats.com
London, 17th May 2011 – 9flats.com, the European leader in peer to peer apartment rentals, has announced today that it has completed a major investment round led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Redpoint Ventures. With this recent investment, the total funding for the company that was incorporated less than six months ago amounts to 10 M US$.
9flats.com aims to change the way people travel by providing an online marketplace where travellers can book individual and exciting private places to stay at their chosen destinations with hosts equally being able to let their own accommodations for a price they choose themselves.
“We are confident that this capital injection will help us realise our vision of changing the way we travel for the better. Compared to standard hotel rooms, booking a private accommodation with 9flats.com allows anyone to have a more exciting – and often cheaper – travel experience, combined with the opportunity to meet great hosts along the way,”
said Stephan Uhrenbacher, Founder and CEO of 9flats.com.
“We are thrilled to be supporting 9flats.com as we strongly believe that their team is pioneering a fresh and smarter way of travelling in Europe.”
said Chris Moore, Partner at Redpoint Ventures.
“We have worked closely with Stephan Uhrenbacher over the past year and are impressed with his demonstrated ability in leading groundbreaking new concepts to great success across Europe”
said Christian Leybold, Partner with eVenture Capital Partners.
This new round of financing will enable 9flats.com to broaden its management and product service across Europe and marks an important step for the site as it grows to become a global player in the online travel industry sector.
About 9flats.com
9flats.com is a market place for private accommodation to facilitate smarter and more local travel. Through the site, members can rent private places worldwide or let their own place for some extra income. 9flats launched in February 2011 and currently lists over 8,000 private accommodations in 40 countries, ranging from a place on a couch for €15 a night to a luxury apartment for €500.
9flats.com was founded by Stephan Uhrenbacher, one of Germany’s leading internet entrepreneurs, who was involved in both the success of travel booking site lastminute.com and Europe’s most popular local review site Qype.com, which he founded. The company is based in Berlin, Hamburg and Valencia and currently employs 100 employees.
About Redpoint Ventures
Redpoint Ventures has helped entrepreneurs build innovative businesses that defy convention, shape the future, and change the world. From early investments in industry pioneers such as Netflix and TiVo, to emerging leaders like HomeAway and Fortinet and defining startups like Cloud.com, Formspring, and BlueKai – we stand behind our entrepreneurs helping them go all the way to the top.
We offer entrepreneurs a culture and approach that values mutual respect, meaningful relationships, and an intense commitment to succeed. Founded in 1999, Redpoint (http://www.redpoint.com) manages $2 billion of capital and invests across the early- and early-growth stages. Its partners have been involved in 41 IPOs and 66 upside acquisitions. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA with offices in Los Angeles and Shanghai, China.
About eVenture Capital Partners / BV Capital
We are an Internet focused early stage venture capital firm currently investing out of two geographically dedicated Funds: BV Capital III in North America and eVenture I in Western and Eastern Europe, both managed by one team with the same incentives across both Funds. We take a global approach, operating from our offices in San Francisco, Hamburg and Moscow and closely working with our Asian partner fund. We have been involved in building category-defining Internet businesses from the ground up for the last fifteen years and current portfolio companies include market leaders such as Groupon, Angie’s List, Sonos and Yume Networks.
For more information, please contact:
Selene Alford
9flats.com
Tel: +44 (0)208 133 3140
press@9flats.com