Holidu has announced the acquisition of Cybevasion, which operates the French holiday home portals gites.fr and chambres-hotes.frThrough this acquisition, the Munich-based company aims to strengthen its presence in France – Europe's largest holiday home market.
Increased capacity utilization & international visibility
Cybevasion was founded in Saint-Étienne in 1998 by Jean-Louis Desouche. The platform claims to have over 35,000 vacation rentals and attracts around 20 million users annually. The integration of these offerings creates one of the largest vacation rental networks in France. Johannes Siebers, CEO and co-founder of Holidu, says about the current expansion of the Holidu family:
"France is already one of Holidu's fastest-growing markets. By combining Cybevasion's established brands with our technology and local service teams, we will provide tens of thousands of French hosts with faster access to increased occupancy and international visibility, while optimizing the booking experience for guests."
As part of the takeover, Jean-Louis Desouche take on the role of General Manager at Holidu. He sees great opportunities in the integration:
"I've been looking for a way to modernize our system and better meet the expectations of today's travelers, especially with regard to instant bookings and fast response times. With Holidu's presence throughout Europe, I've found an innovative and intuitive partner with a consistently customer-centric mindset."
For Holidu, this is already the eighth acquisition in the company's history. With this strategy, the company combines organic growth with targeted acquisitions and the integration of local teams.
Growth capital for AI and internationalization
In addition to the acquisition, Holidu announced the completion of a €46 million financing round. Investors include Key1 Capital, Vintage Investment Partners, and Prime Ventures. Existing investors also participated again.
The company, founded in Munich in 2014 by brothers Johannes and Michael Siebers, intends to use the new capital to further develop its AI technologies, expand its property management software (PMS), and expand into other markets.
Since the last financing round in October 2022 The number of locations was increased to 28. According to the company, the number of accommodations managed via its own PMS rose to almost 50,000, and the resulting revenue more than tripled.
“With our first AI guest agent, we were able to reduce simple support requests by 70 percent and complex ones by 30 percent, while simultaneously increasing customer satisfaction and booking rates,”
explained Michael Siebers, CTO and co-founder of Holidu.
"We continue to invest in AI-powered processes without losing sight of human contact where it really matters. Thanks to automation, we offer better service at lower costs and unlock new scalability opportunities."
With the new structure, hosts benefit from the full range of features of the Holidu PMS – including direct online bookings, automated payments, price recommendations, and a website configurator. Local teams in France offer personal on-site support.
