Company
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round Booking.com raised.
Companies Booking.com acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Gillian Tans | President and CEO | Startup Daily |
Stories naming Booking.com. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Short-term rental manager Hometime has hired Alison Walsh, previously CMO at Chatime Australia and a 17-year Guzman y Gomez veteran, as its chief marketing officer, reporting to co-founder and CEO Billy Crock.
Insurtech Cover Genius, previously ranked first on the Smart50 list, has secured $143 million from Vista Credit Partners at a valuation above $2 billion, with funds earmarked for AI development and acquisitions.
Australian insurtech Cover Genius raised $143 million led by Vista Credit Partners, pushing its valuation above $2 billion, with funds earmarked for platform development, AI claims capabilities and international expansion.
Vista Credit Partners is backing Cover Genius's USD 100 million raise, which puts the insurance platform's value at USD 1.9 billion; Morgan Stanley acted as placement agent.
Also SmartCompany·inspirepreneurmagazine.com·Cut Through Venture·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Forbes Australia
Expedia Group's Australian travel deals site lastminute.com.au closes in June 2026 after 25 years, with bookings sent to its parent's platform; the piece recounts its ownership through travel.com.au, Wotif and Expedia.
Nakatomi, an Australian startup studio, has collected $3.5 million from backers including Scalare Partners and Leonardo.AI's Chris Gillis, cash it will deploy creating several companies each year.
Travel giant Oyo's purchase of local rental manager MadeComfy tops $50 million; founders remain as co-CEOs, and the piece recalls earlier raises and rival sector deals.
Also Startup Daily·bwdisrupt.com·vrinsider.com·community.verified.realestate
Roundup of travel-sector dealmaking: KKR invests in Etraveli at a reported $3.1 billion valuation, Airalo, TravelPerk and Klook raise big rounds, and SevenRooms and MadeComfy are acquired.
Ex-Sweat product chief Josh Volk launches ParkBooker, a reservations platform for holiday parks, this week, backed by a Singapore-based fund and three individual investors in a pre-seed round.
Sydney proptech Happly, which simplifies moving house, has secured $1.75 million at seed stage from backers including Danny Hanna and Max Cunningham, with the capital earmarked for product development and national expansion.
Also SmartCompany
Twin sisters Sali Sasi and Julie Stevanja have rebranded their bargain-finding app Her Black Book as Wrapd, rolled out a browser version, and raised $1.8 million from returning plus four fresh backers.
Also SmartCompany
Square Peg looks back on putting US$6 million into Airwallex's Series A+ alongside Tencent, Sequoia China, Gobi Partners and MasterCard, explaining why cross-border payment infrastructure needs fixing.
Presentation software firm SalesPreso has rebranded as LivePreso after a $5 million round led by Shearwater Growth Ventures, with Chris Ridd joining its board as it targets business clients including Asahi and Iress.
Also SmartCompany
Recruitment testing startup alooba has raised $1.1 million in seed funding from angel investors, giving founder Tim Freestone runway to survive the coronavirus downturn, while the article also recalls HotelsCombined's acquisition by Booking.com.
Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany
Telstra-backed accelerator muru-D names ten startups for its sixth Sydney intake, each receiving seed funding, while Clean Travel and Okra Solar join Booking.com's sustainable tourism accelerator running in Amsterdam.