The Plum Guide, a London-based travel tech startup that lets customers book top-rated homes from more than 25 booking platforms, has raised £5.7m in Series A funding, as part of a round led by Octopus Ventures.

Other investors were BGF Ventures and the founders of Secret Escapes, Zoopla and LoveFilm.

The Plum Guide founder, Doro Meyassed, said: “We are on a mission to build a marketplace of the world’s most beautiful holiday homes. For a home to be accepted it has to pass 150 criteria. These criteria, which we call ‘The Science & Art Behind The Perfect Stay’ represent what we believe are the ingredients of the perfect stay. They have been devised by collecting over 541,000 data points across 1,082 London homes (to date) on what makes this all-elusive perfect stay.”

The funding will be used by Plum for international expansion.

Harry Briggs, from BGF Ventures, said:

“As more and more sophisticated travellers want to stay in homes rather than hotels, the world is crying out for a truly independent arbiter of the finest homes. Just as people hunt down a Michelin-starred restaurant or an Oscar-winning movie, Plum Guide’s customers can book with the confidence that they’re going to stay in a beautifully designed home in a lovely part of town, with no unpleasant surprises – whilst the Plum homeowners can at last stand out from the mass of average or mis-sold properties that flood home rental sites.”

(Source: UKTN)