Hostaway CEO on What's Next After Raising $365 Million: Europe Expansion, More AI

Marcus Rader says he and his co-founder knew nothing about travel or vacation rentals when they started Hostaway 10 years ago. But the company, which provides platform for managing short-term rentals, has either doubled or tripled revenue every year for the past five years.

Rader said the company needed capital to keep up. More importantly, they needed a partner. 

The company announced a deal Tuesday with General Atlantic for $365 million — one of the largest fundraises for a travel software company this year and among the largest ever in its sector. 

“We're both first-time founders, so we simply didn't know what to do. We've never seen a company grow so fast to this stage," Rader said in an interview with Skift.

There were a lot of prospects, he said, and Hostaway closed the deal in a couple of months. 

“Onc