Investment reinforces Awayday's locally-run, field-first model and supports its commitment to delivering value to key stakeholders

DESTIN, Fla., Oct. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Awayday (the "Company"), a leading vacation rental management company on a mission to perfect the vacation rental experience for owners and guests alike, today announced it has closed a significant investment from Warburg Pincus, the pioneer of global growth investing. The investment is being made by the Warburg Pincus Capital Solutions Founders Fund ("WPCS FF"). The Company's majority owners, an Ares Private Equity fund ("Ares") and LightBay Capital ("LightBay"), will remain the controlling shareholders. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

Awayday partners with independent vacation rental operators seeking the scale, systems, and support of a national platform while preserving their local identity – an approach the Company calls "Join Us, Stay You." Today, the Company manages more than 18,000 properties across the United States through a portfolio of local brands, supported by more than 1,800 team members.

Awayday will use proceeds from this investment to return capital to the Company's existing equity investors, including Ares, LightBay, and its rollover equity partners. In addition, Awayday will deliver proceeds to the leading local operators and supporting team members who have been integral to driving the Company's growth through its field-first model.

"Warburg Pincus' investment is a vote of confidence in our team of more than 1,800 people – some of the most experienced local operators and support teams in the vacation rental industry – and in the strength of our portfolio of vacation rental brands across North America," said Jakob Dwyer, CEO of Awayday. "Ownership mentality is one of our core values: we ask our teams to think and act like owners, and we believe they should share in the value they create. At Awayday, we call that 'winning together' through a model that supports locally run businesses led by operators who put their guests, owners, and teams first. Our local teams are the stars of the show, and we will keep building a company that treats them that way."

"Awayday has built an exceptional vacation rental management company, rooted in a business model that combines national reach with local connections and expertise. That model has fueled both strong organic growth and a highly effective M&A strategy," said Lee Becker, Managing Director at Warburg Pincus. "This investment aligns with our strategy of partnering with market-leading businesses that deliver strong value for customers and employees, have a proven track record of organic growth, and are led by best-in-class leadership teams at every level of the organization. We look forward to supporting Awayday as it continues to build on its success to date," added Claire Branch, Principal at Warburg Pincus.

Warburg Pincus Capital Solutions Founders Fund closed in September 2024 with over $4 billion in commitments. Capital Solutions has a flexible mandate that allows it to partner with founders and existing shareholders to provide solutions for balance sheet optimization, shareholder liquidity, M&A, or growth. The group leverages Warburg Pincus' global platform and firmwide resources across geographies to source and execute on hybrid capital transactions.

About Awayday

Awayday is a national vacation rental management company on a mission to perfect the vacation rental experience. Awayday manages more than 18,000 properties across the United States through a portfolio of local brands, supported by more than 1,800 team members. Guided by its core values – Servant Leadership, Ownership Mentality, "Local, Local, Local", and Excellence – Awayday pairs national scale in technology, revenue management, and marketing with local teams who know their markets and care for their customers.

About Warburg Pincus

Warburg Pincus LLC is the pioneer of global growth investing. A private partnership since 1966, the firm has the flexibility and experience to focus on helping investors and management teams achieve enduring success across market cycles. Today, the firm has more than $105 billion in assets under management, and more than 225 companies in its active portfolio, diversified across stages, sectors, and geographies. Warburg Pincus has invested in more than 1,100 companies across its private equity, real estate, and capital solutions strategies.

Warburg Pincus' Capital Solutions team collaborates closely with the firm's 290+ investment professionals and 75+ value creation executives across Warburg Pincus' global industry verticals, critical to sourcing and underwriting differentiated, attractive investments. Recent investments have included DriveCentric, Excelitas Technologies, Global Eggs, MB2 Dental, Madison International Realty, MIAX, MyKaarma, Nord Security, Paradigm Oral Health, Service Compression, and United Trust Bank.

The firm is headquartered in New York with more than 15 offices globally. For more information, please visit www.warburgpincus.com or follow us on LinkedIn and YouTube.

About Ares Management Corporation

Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) is a leading global alternative investment manager offering clients complementary primary and secondary investment solutions across the credit, real estate, private equity, and infrastructure asset classes. We seek to advance our stakeholders' long-term goals by providing flexible capital that supports businesses and creates value for our investors and within our communities. By collaborating across our investment groups, we aim to generate consistent and attractive investment returns throughout market cycles. As of June 30, 2026, Ares Management Corporation's global platform had over $671 billion of assets under management, with operations across North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.ares.com.

About LightBay Capital

LightBay Capital is a Los Angeles-based private equity firm with $1.7 billion of committed capital. We invest primarily in founder-led healthcare and business services companies, partnering with owners and their management teams to accelerate growth through investments in talent and technology. For more than two decades, LightBay's principals have created meaningful value by pairing deep domain expertise with a shared commitment to servant leadership and an entrepreneurial mindset. For more information, please visit www.lightbay.com

Media Contacts

Awayday

Danny Bradford

EVP of Revenue & Marketing

Dbradford@awayday.com

Warburg Pincus

Caroline Wise

Caroline.wise@warburgpincus.com

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SOURCE Warburg Pincus