Accel Partners has led a third institutional funding round into HouseTrip, with return contributions coming from Index Ventures and Balderton Capital.

HouseTrip has secured $40 million (£25 million) of development capital to expand its marketplace into further territories and develop new products.

Founded in 2010 by husband and wife team Arnaud Bertrand and Junjun Chen-Bertrand, HouseTrip provides users with a selection of some 130,000 properties available around the world.

By the end of 2012, travellers will have booked more than three million nights’ sleep via the platform, the company says.

Fundraising began back in April 2011 when Index Ventures joined as a backer and provided $2.7 million. Seven months later in November 2011 Balderton led a Series B round worth $17 million, with a further contribution coming from Index Ventures.

Tim Bunting of Balderton Capital joined Neil Rimer of Index Ventures and HouseTrip founders Bertrand and Chen-Bertrand on the board when it closed its second funding transaction.

Bertrand comments, ‘My wife and I created HouseTrip on the back of a painful experience booking a holiday rental.

‘We knew there had to be a better way to discover and book holiday rental accommodation that was both anxiety-free and easy to use.’

Sonali De Rycker, partner at Accel Partners, says that HouseTrip is fast becoming the destination of choice for the European traveller.

‘With a world-class product and management team, HouseTrip has the potential to create a very successful marketplace in the exciting category of vacation rentals,’ she adds.