Singaporean Startup Travelmob Acquired by HomeAway as US Firm Pushes Into Asia

Singapore-based home vacation rental startup Travelmob, which only launched into beta in early 2012, has been acquired by HomeAway (NASDAQ:AWAY). The financial details haven’t been revealed, but the US firm will take a 63 percent controlling stake in Travelmob, with the original founders keeping hold of the rest.

HomeAway, which also does Airbnb-style vacation rentals, will pump $2 million into Travelmob this year to grow the Asia-oriented business.

HomeAway has been pushing hard into Asia this year and has made three tie-ups with local travel startups to boost its Asia area offerings – one of those was with Travelmob back in March this year.

Travelmob currently has over 14,000 Asia-Pacific short-term rental listings. It has grown to have 16 staff and the site now supports eight languages. The startup was still in stealth mode when we featured it in March 2012 and talked to co-founder Turochas “T” Fuad, a former managing director of Skype Asia Pacific who quit to pursue his own new venture. Fuad says today in the announcement:

We are excited to join HomeAway as the vacation rental industry develops in Asia. We see an increasing trend of Asian travelers expressing a preference for authentic experiences and the quality and value afforded by our range of properties. Our focus at travelmob is to enable travelers to experience Asia like a local, staying at the cool places throughout this vast region.

HomeAway opened a sales office in Bangkok, Thailand, in April of this year. It also has a minority stake in China’s top holiday rentals site Tujia.

Meanwhile, Airbnb is also targeting Southeast Asia.

(Editing by C. Custer)