Oct 9 (Reuters) - London-based holiday rental serviceHouseTrip.com has raised $40 million in a rare joint investmentof three leading venture firms in Europe, aiming to expand inEurope and beyond.
Accel Partners joined earlier investors Index Ventures andBalderton Capital in the latest funding round for the internetservice which was founded in 2010.
Previously, HouseTrip.com had raised $20 million.
Like bigger rivals Homeaway and Airbnb,HouseTrip.com allows homeowners to rent out properties on ashort-term basis. It lists 130,000 properties, compared withmore than 200,000 for Airbnb and 735,000 for Homeaway.
By the end of 2012, travellers will have booked more than 3million nights via HouseTrip.
"There are 4-5 million second homes in Europe. In thisenvironment people are looking to get a yield on them," said TimBunting, partner at Balderton.
(Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Mark Potter)
((tarmo.virki@thomsonreuters.com)(+358 40840 6235))
Keywords: HOUSETRIP FUNDING/