Indian alternative-accommodation site Stayzilla.com will use its $15 million Series B funding to increase the number of bookable properties to 50,000 by the end of year.
Currently it has more 20,000 options and makes a big deal about its drive to capture alternative accommodations - homestays, guest houses, resorts, B&B’s, jungle lodges, boat houses, paying guests.
It argues that this market is several times bigger than the traditional hotels sector.
The Series B funding has been led by newcomer Nexus Venture Partners with support from existing investor Matrix Partners.
In a statement, Avnish Bajaj, managing director of Matrix noted Stayzilla's "explosive growth, particularly on mobile," while Anup Gupta, managing director at Nexus, referred to Stayzilla’s ability to "address the reality of low technology adoption among suppliers."
And Stayzilla's founder Yogendra Vasupal added "this investment will help us expand exponentially and tap newer destinations to reach 8000 towns and 50,000 accommodations by the end of the year."
The drive to get 50,000 bookable properties onto the site by the end of 2015 is ambitious. Indian OTA MakeMyTrip went on an "aggressive sign-up drive" in the Sept-Dec quarter and increased its accommodations inventory to 20,000.
It also invested in Simplotel, a technology company which builds web sites for independent and alternative hotels. Simplotel not only aims to give Stayzilla's potential suppliers a website of their own but can also make their rooms bookable through MakeMyTrip.