Private accommodation search engine Holidu has added an additional €5 million investment to a Series C round that it first secured in the summer of 2019.
Booking.com's former CEO, Kees Koolen, has put forward €4 million of his own money into the top-up round, alongside other, unnamed investors.
The Germany-based company, which includes the Bookiply software platform for rental owners, says it turned profitable in May this year, despite the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In July, the company claims, an initial relaxation of lockdown rules in numerous countries saw it capture 27 million visits to its consumer-facing website, generating some €130 million in bookings for partners of the metasearch service.
Holidu raised €40 million in Series C funding - the highest ever amount of investment for a private accommodation search engine - in September last year.
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The Germany-based brand had previously brought in a Series A of €5 million and an undisclosed Series B in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
The 2019 round eclipsed the $20 million secured by HomeToGo in April 2016 and its estimated $30 million late last year, alongside the $35 million for the ill-fated Tripping, also in 2016.
Koolen, who has been a board member at Holidu since 2016, says: "The COVID-19 pandemic is reshuffling the cards in the travel industry and Holidu is clearly one of the winners of the accelerated trend towards alternative accommodation.
“Over the five years I’ve been working with Holidu, my confidence in the team has only grown. On top of that, the entire company is centered around data and technology in a way that is unmatched in the industry.”