MMC backs Love Home Swap with £1m fresh funding

The new capital will enable Love Home Swap to finance further marketing activities and product development, as well as hire additional staff. The company aims to double its member base over the next year.

In conjunction with the fresh funding round, Love Home Swap has launched its new service, Swap Points. Drawing on the established timeshare model, Swap Points allows site members to pledge time in their property to a central bank in exchange for points. The points members accrue can be redeemed to stay in the homes of other Love Home Swap members for free.

The scheme means that, unlike Love Home Swap's initial service, members do not have to make a straight swap – in other words, they do not have to match exact dates and locations with other members to initiate a home swap for a holiday.

The company completed the acquisition of competitor site 1stHomeExchange in January this year. The bolt-on tripled Love Home Swap's property listings.

Previous funding
MMC initially backed the company in January 2012 with an £850,000 early-stage investment. In November of the same year, MMC supplied Love Home Swap with a further £800,000.

Company
Founded in 2011, Love Home Swap is headquartered in London and employs 10 staff. The company provides an online home swapping holiday service, which allows members to swap their homes instead of arranging hotel accommodation for a holiday. Members can pay for a silver, gold or platinum monthly account, with varying levels of benefits.

The platform now lists more than 45,000 properties across 150 countries. According to the company, the number of listings on the site has increased five-fold since the start of the year and revenue has increased by 3.5x, both of which are thanks in part to the bolt-on of 1stHomeExchange in January.

People
Debbie Wosskow is the founder and CEO of Love Home Swap. Rory Stirling is an investment director at MMC.

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• Topics
• UK / Ireland
• Expansion
• Consumer
• United Kingdom
• MMC Ventures