Uniplaces was founded in 2012 by Miguel Amaro, from Portugal, Ben Grech, from England, and Mariano Kostelec, from Argentina, having its headquarters in Lisbon and an office in London.

[2] By the beginning of 2012, after a positive response, the trio built a fully working version of the website and secured several partnerships with universities in Portugal.

[9] Included in the deal were Portugal’s top angel fund Shilling Capital Partners as well as Alex Chesterman one of the UK’s most successful internet entrepreneurs, having founded Zoopla.co.uk and LOVEFiLM.com, and William Reeve who co-founded LOVEFiLM.com.

[12] In October 2014, Uniplaces completed its first Series A round, raising €3M from its previous investors, as well as former Managing Director at Barclays Capital, Rob McClatchey.

Vacation rental sites like Airbnb and Wimdu offer alternatives to traditional accommodations by allowing people to rent private apartments, but tend to focus more on short-term.