HomeAway buys remaining stake in Singapore startup Travelmob
Another local startup, Start Now, says it has been acquired by Goodtizens Technologies for S$530,000
Singapore
NASDAQ-LISTED HomeAway, a US$2.9 billion American vacation rental company, has fully taken over Singapore startup Travelmob. The Austin, Texas-based firm had acquired 63 per cent of Travelmob in an undisclosed, all-cash deal in 2013.
HomeAway said on Tuesday it had bought the remaining minority stake in Travelmob and now fully owns the company. As part of the transition, Travelmob will be rebranded as HomeAway, and the HomeAway Asia team - headquartered in Singapore - will be run by Prashant Kirtane, co-founder of Travelmob. In the last six months, the team launched 14 new, localised sites across Asia, including the big travel markets of China, Japan and South Korea - allowing HomeAway to compete directly with the likes of Airbnb (reportedly valued at US$24 billion) and Singapore-headquartered Roomorama.
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