The Plum Guide, a London, UK-based startup that tests and curates holiday homes, raised £5.7m in Series A funding.
Backers included Octopus Ventures, Local Globe, BGF Ventures and the founders of Secret Escapes, Zoopla, and Love Film.
The company will use the funds to expand its business reach.
Founded by Doron Meyassed, Imran Arshed, Alex Lee and Arif Meherali in December 2015, The Plum Guide handpicks London’s best vacation rentals, holiday homes, short term lets and AirBnb’s from over 25 different sites by using a mix of algorithms and physical visits by hospitality experts.
This gives a shortlist of hosts that are satisfying their customers. The company’s team members then visit the shortlisted homes, to get to know the hosts and their style, and test their space against 150 criteria. These range from things like shower pressure and quality of bedding, through to whether the host can recommend amazing restaurants and bars.
Roughly only 1 in every 100 spaces the company looks at gets accepted into the Plum collection.
FinSMEs
12/01/2018