Vacasa, a vacation rental management platform, begins trading today under the ticker symbol VCSA, four months after announcing plans to go public via a special purpose acquisition company.
The Portland-based company, founded in 2009, has a valuation of $4.4 billion and more than $340 million in gross cash proceeds, coming off a strong Q3 earnings report when the company reported revenue of $330 million and adjusted EBITDA of $57 million.
Over the last few years, the short-term rental industry has been professionalizing. As consumer demand and expectations from vacation rentals grow, we expect to see further consolidation in the industry. Going public will allow Vacasa to fund their continued growth.
In the past year, several travel industry companies have announced plans to go public, including Sonder and American Express Global Business Travel. Vacasa is one of the first to list, just behind Singapore-based Grab and Germany-based HomeToGo.
Vacasa's existing investors, including Silver Lake, Riverwood Capital, Level Equity, Altos Ventures, Adams Street and NewSpring Capital, along with founder Eric Breon and management, will roll 100% of their equity to retain an 88% ownership of the company.
Vacasa CFO Jamie Cohen says the company has two priorities that will drive how it uses the new capital: adding supply and developing its technology and product. Cohen says the company wants to add supply in existing markets, to enter new markets in those countries and eventually to grow internationally. There are five million vacation homes in the United States, but only 1% of them are penetrated. We are going to be very careful in how we decide and when we enter into international, but that is an enormous opportunity for us as well.
Signing up individual homeowners and acquiring small property management companies are two ways the company adds supply. Vacasa made 22 acquisitions in the first nine months of the year, up from 10 in the same period last year, according to the company's Q3 SEC filing.
Cohen says Vacasa will focus on developing its technology and product, along with adding supply. Vacasa gained technology through its acquisition of TurnKey, which enabled smart home technology for all of its properties. The company hired its first CMO in May and is now running a brand advertising campaign in select markets using audio, cable and broadcast television, digital advertising and podcasts. Cohen says Vacasa gets about a third of the bookings, and two-thirds come through partners. We would not want to prioritize direct and as a result not be able to maximize revenue for our homeowners.
Matt Roberts, our CEO, was a CFO and CEO of OpenTable, which was a public company, and a number of people on our executive team also have public company experience. We are uniquely set up to manage the investor community and Wall Street and not distract the rest of the business.
