Privadia, Europe’s fastest-growing b2b supplier of luxury vacation rentals has secured their first seed round of investment which will fuel further growth across the Balearic Islands.
Travel and technology entrepreneurs Frank Martin and Chris Harrison have invested the seed round in order to further expand Privadia’s unique business model and tech platform. Both based in Ibiza and also clients of Privadia, apparently it was an easy decision for them to make the investment based on the positive impact Privadia’s service had on them as luxury villa owners. Frank Martin said “Since Trivago acquired my last SAAS business base7booking, an online Property Management System back in 2017, I have been on the hunt for my next major project and Privadia couldn’t be a better fit. Also, joining with Chris who really compliments my skillsets will provide a great support network for the Privadia team. I’m extremely excited about the next 12 month’s plans”
Founded in Ibiza, Privadia was born out of frustration and necessity. Privadia CEO and Co-founder Harvey Mason stated “There was a clear gap in the vacation rental market for a company that provided transparent prices, reasonable commission rates, accurate and up-to-date property information and a professional, trusted team that overseas agency partners could rely on. We went all-in with a business to business online service in order to meet that demand and now we supply our villas to hundreds of partners all over the world, including some of the largest brands in the industry. It’s the perfect marriage – we focus on the properties and the quality standards while our partners focus on attracting clients and building their brands. We both rely on each other”.
With operations in Ibiza, Mallorca and the UK, Privadia has hundreds of pre-inspected, licensed, high-quality villas which they supply via their custom-built agency portal to a global network of agency partners. From small concierge companies, entertainment agencies, PA’s and lifestyle managers all the way through to the largest OTA’s in the world, Privadia provides a unique method for luxury vacation rental owners to distribute and market their properties. COO and co-founder Stuart Glen commented “Although scalability is important to us, quality standards are also our priority. Our operations team have a keen eye for detail and have cracked the science behind what is required from a high-quality vacation rental. Working with professional house managers and maintenance and cleaning teams is also part of our criteria. We represent our partner’s brands so there is no room for error or low standards”.
The thing that makes Privadia stand out from the crowd is their bespoke ‘built from the ground up’ advanced technology. Although fundamentally they are still a villa rental agency and they still play a key role in guest experience and the management of the rentals, the whole business model and day to day operation is underpinned by and is streamlined by their custom-built online platform. Chris Harrison, now an investor and technology entrepreneur said “It’s Privadia’s technology that attracted my investment. What they have is very impressive and has huge potential to change the way villa rental agencies access and book high-quality villas in two clicks. The platform is tailored towards the business to business relationships between villa owners, property managers and villa rental agencies and provides tools and features that very few other platforms have. The relationship between owners and the multiple layers of agencies that can sometimes be involved in the sales chain can be quite complex, yet the guys have managed to simplify this to the point where they have a very unique offering in the marketplace”.
The Seed round of investment is step one of a much larger strategy whereby Privadia has ambitious plans to become Europe’s largest supplier of high-quality vacation rentals to the travel industry. Phase one will see Privadia become the main supplier of the Balearic Islands. The Series A funding expected to be raised early 2020 will then facilitate exponential growth into more of Europe’s luxury destinations.
Press Enquiries
For a full press pack and more information on Privadia and our Seed round of investment, please contact us on press@privadia.com
