Donegal native sells software company to AirDNA in multimillion dollar deal

Ellen O’Regan talks to Vincent Breslin whose bootstrapped software company was just bought out by a private equity firm that contacted him directly by message

Donegal native Vincent Breslin kicked off his career as a tech entrepreneur from a young age, having taught himself to code by 13, and around the same time named young entrepreneur of the year by Enterprise Ireland for a treasure hunting game he developed for tourists.

He would later go on to found a meal planning platform with his mother Sian Breslin in 2012, and fast forward to 2015 when he was working for Airbnb competitor HouseTrip in London, Breslin and two colleagues (later co-founders) spotted another opportunity.

“We saw first-hand the challenges that hosts and property managers were having. They wanted to be on as many platforms as possible, but managing one property across all of those sites is quite difficult. You need to log in to each one, update prices, make sure you don’t get double bookings - that’s quite challenging, and then if you have 500 properties it just becomes impossible,” he said.

In 2017, Breslin and co-founders Andy Shipman and Tadej Murovec established Uplisting, which automates operations for short term rental property managers through a centralised platform.

Since then the company has grown to be one of AirBnB’s top software partners, with 30 staff serving more than 1,500 businesses globally.

Breslin highlights that in 2023 the company processed around $400 million (€365 million) in bookings, generating revenue of $3 million (€2.74 million) and “more or less breaking even” profit-wise.

Last week it was announced that Uplisting was acquired for a multimillion dollar sum by short term rental data provider AirDNA, a portfolio company of private equity firm Alpine Investors which manages $16 billion (€14.60 billion) worth of assets.

Breslin said that while he had always received queries from PE funds and competitors looking to invest in Uplisting, when Alpine Investors appeared in his LinkedIn inbox it caught his interest.

“This one was really interesting because it was from a company that have a very good name in an industry that I admire,” he said, adding that a follow up call let to an acquisition offer for a multiple of Uplisting’s $3 million annual revenue.

Breslin said the deal shows what is possible for a software company built “from scratch” without major funding, apart from $500,000 (€457,000) raised from customers and bootstrap focused fund Calm Capital.

“We just build a good product, we’re probably the only company on the list of top Airbnb software partners that hasn’t raised any money. Some of our competitors have raised $200 million or $300 million, so we’re fighting against very well-funded competitors,” he said.

“The acquisition of a sustainable, bootstrapped business by a top-tier US fund shows a highly successful partnership is possible without traditional funding,” he added.

urrently living in Lisbon with his wife Shaunagh and two young sons, Breslin says he plans to stay with Uplisting for at least the next year as an adviser to help AirDNA with the acquisition.

He said that joining forces with AirDNA “opens up a realm of possibilities for the vacation rental market”, and adds that despite calls for greater regulation of the short term letting sector, there is still potential for growth.

“Regulation is obviously going to come into play, but there’s a lot of merging into traditional hospitality. A lot of our customers are going from managing property that you traditionally Airbnb to taking over motels, hotels, or building custom built multifamily units that include short term rental,” he said.

“I think there’s a lot of work to be done with regulators, but there’s still a bright future there and AirDNA are the ones that have all the data for the industry, so they’re bullish in it,” he added.

Reporting On:irishtimes.com