Gurgaon-based travel start-up Guesthouser plans to raise Series A round of funding worth $5-7 million soon, its founder and CEO Dhruv Dutt Sharma said. It will use the funds to hire human capital, upgrade technology and branding exercises.

The company, founded over a year ago, aims to create supply in under-penetrated travel markets and connect those properties to travellers via its platform.

“We are a privately curated network. Not everyone can list themselves on our platform. At present, we have 50,000 properties listed on Guesthouser, out of which 5,000 are overseas,” Sharma said.

The offerings on the portal range from a hut priced at ₹600 a night in Goa to an island in Spain for ₹86 lakh.

Homestays account for over 55 per cent of the properties listed on the platform which also has treehouses, houseboats, villas, yachts, bed and breakfast accommodations.

Going forward, the portal aims to increase focus on the North-East. “It has a lot of potential as its exploration is very nascent. It does not have a lot of infrastructure for large scale hotels,” Sharma said.

Business model Under the revenue sharing model, the company keeps 10-40 per cent of the booking amount based on location and property type and the balance goes to the owner of the accommodation.

The company has 150 people on its rolls.

Guesthouser has received its initial seed funding of Rs 5 crore by Milestone Ventures. Sharma is also the Managing Director for Milestone Ventures.

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