Secret Escapes

Going on holiday is wonderful. Tracking down the best deal often isn't. Secret Escapes founder Tom Valentine, ex-eBay and Seatwave, has launched a new venture that allows users to find the right holiday, at the best price, in the easiest way. And these aren't any old bargain flophouses. These are five-star, luxury apartments and houses, the playthings of the rich and famous, available for up to 70% less. The website, nicknamed 'hotel porn' by Valentine, features stunning images from all the different hotels and holidays. The transactional site only launched in January, but so far the firm has sold thousands of room nights at over 250 hotels. Half a million members have already signed up for the site, and Valentine has raised a seed round of funding from Octopus and Atlas Ventures; highly rated venture capital firms with stunning portfolios (not bad for a company headquartered in a sunless basement downwind from a Chicken Cottage).

• Operating at the luxury end of the deals market
• Over 500,000 member sign-ups
• Scalable model, low overheads, competitive proposition