iStopOver and PlanetEye merge raising $3M

iStopOver, the peer-to-peer accommodation rental marketplace incubated by Brightspark, has merged with PlanetEye, the interactive travel guide spun out from Microsoft Research – in the process raising a round of up to $3M from GrowthWorks and JLA Ventures, PlanetEye’s original backers.

The merged company is adopting the iStopOver brand and will focus on expanding the rental business. iStopOver is poised to launch in new markets, having recently validated its model by facilitating thousands of bookings (valued at $1.25M) between hosts and guests during the South Africa Soccer World Cup. It is free for hosts to list a property, iStopOver captures a booking fee of 6-15% on each reservation.

iStopOver’s Anthony Lipschitz will serve as COO and Mark Skapinker as Executive Chairman of the company. PlanetEye’s Jonah Sigel, who will continue on as CEO, shared his thoughts on the value PlanetEye brings to the venture in addition to its development team and portfolio of patents pertaining to interactive maps:

The unique ability to show a potential customer everything they want to know about a specific area, the restaurants, the events, the attractions, social media happenings and more will help that customer make a more informed booking decision.

With greater resources to invest in development and marketing, iStopOver is well positioned to compete with AirBnB in this emerging online travel segment.