While some think it outrageous that a marketplace can have the cheek to support competition, apartment rental site Wimdu thinks everyone including rival Airbnb can benefit.
The company says its own recent windfall of $90 million in capital and this week's confirmation of $112 million heading the way of Airbnb illustrates the enthusiasm of the marketplace and investors to fund the growing sector of apartment rentals.
Co-founder Russell Goldman, who now heads up Wimdu's US operations, blames the wider travel industry for its "lack of innovation" paving the way for it and its growing number of competitors to capitalise.
"...people are fed up, flocking in huge numbers to social travel sites like ours, Wimdu, and Airbnb – that bring together renters and travelers to create a superior vacation experience."
Goldman claims the last decade has seen consumers having to rely on "impersonal travel bots" to handle bookings when using existing travel websites.
Valuations for Wimdu and Airbnb in the $1 billion range are "no surprise", he says.
"Travel is a trillion dollar industry that is going to be completely reshaped and at Wimdu we are investing in becoming the global leader in the social marketplace for travel rentals."
While Airbnb's massive funding round came as a result of wooing some of the US's most high profile investors, such as General Catalyst and Andressen Horowitz, Wimdu's own injection is by way of European backers Kinnevik from Sweden and Rocket Internet in Germany.
In mid-June, when the Wimdu funding was unveiled, the company had already managed to secure a presence in ten offices around the world and claimed to have around 10,000 properties listed from 30 countries.