Homestay, a self-styled "Airbnb competitor" for hosted stays around the world, has landed $3 million from Delta Partners.
The capital raise for the Dublin-based startup was supported by the country's entrepreneur fund, Enterprise Ireland.
To coincide with the funding announcement, Homestay says it has bought Berlin-based HomestayBooking for an undisclosed fee.
Homestay (TLabs here) claims the acquisition will give it some 25,000 registered properties around the world where travellers can "guests and hosts looking to share experiences can find each other".
HomestayBooking is a reasonably well-established player in the hosted accommodation market, having been around since 2007 and with a presence in 30 countries. It has 70,000 guest accounts and supports five languages.
Integration between the two brands is expected to take around six months.
CEO Alan Clarke says:
"With this acquisition and funding, Homestay is positioned to become the leading hosted travel experience marketplace on the Internet, and the homestay travel experience is officially on the radar of experiential travelers worldwide."
The company is expected to trigger the development of "as yet undefined new products and services" as well boost language support and mobile-based products.
The company was the brainchild of ex-Hostelworld co-founder Tom Kennedy and the director and founder of Irish Education Partners, Debbie Flynn.