Iris Ventures Leads $10 Million Funding Round Into Luxury Travel Expert Essentialist

LONDON — Specialist fund Iris Ventures is investing in the good life, leading a $10 million series A funding round into Essentialist, a new-generation travel concierge that creates bespoke itineraries for members and aims to take the hassle out of traveling.

An announcement is expected Monday.

Essentialist, which is based in Mallorca, Spain, uses a combination of AI and personalized service to design and organize trips for clients who pay an annual fee of a $2,600 to join the community, and access the services.

In addition to organizing flights, hotels and restaurant bookings, the Essentialist team also leverages data, proprietary technology and in-house creative talent to create the bespoke itineraries based on clients’ hobbies, interests and preferred activities.

Art collectors are offered private visits to galleries and museums, while Swifties can score concert tickets. Fashion lovers are able to meet creative directors, photographers and designers while movie buffs have the opportunity to attend the Venice Film Festival.

Essentialist staffers are on hand to inspire visits while the site offers 24/7 service for the duration of the trip. The site has a few thousand members, many of whom are based in the U.S. and, on average, they spend $38,000 a year with the company.

Montse Suarez, founder and managing partner of Iris Ventures, described the company as a “first mover in the luxury travel industry,” and said the investment dovetails with Iris’ focus on consumer companies that aim to make people’s lives easier.   

“When it comes to the luxury travel industry, the booking experience is far from desirable. Today’s luxury travelers are looking to spend their money on one-of-a-kind experiences, and they expect products of exceptional quality and unparalleled service that acknowledge their unique needs and preferences,” she said.

Suarez believes the Essentialist itineraries, client service and technology “are unique in the industry” and a testament to founder and chief executive officer Joan Roca’s “vision, leadership, and team.”

Roca, who founded the company in 2017, said the premium end of the travel industry is a highly fragmented $1.3 trillion market, “and one of the largest verticals yet to be disrupted by technology.”

New and existing angel investors took part in the latest funding round and Roca said the money would be deployed to develop the brand and the product and to build awareness and community.

It will also be put toward solidifying the direct-to-consumer business and the business-to-business channel, the latter of which he said is an increasingly important growth avenue for the company.

The company said it has built a database of more than 70,000 customized luxury travel experiences that feed its itineraries worldwide.

Essentialist has a permanent staff of 120 from 25 nationalities and a network of more than 200 travel and lifestyle editors who review and update their recommendations on an ongoing basis.

Last November, the company launched a mobile app, which members can use to request information and view sample itineraries to help in their decision-making. They can bookmark favorites for future travel plans, with every interaction helping the platform to understand more about the member’s tastes and preferences.

AI steps in to help match them with available offerings, which are then fine-tuned. Members receive a customized proposal and once they make their final selections, a Member Experience Manager books the itinerary.

It’s a million miles away from the travel industry that Roca remembers when he was starting out. “We used to send tickets on motorbikes” to clients, but the luxury experience ended there, he said in an interview.

He later witnessed the “digitized commoditization” of travel, with online sites offering prospective travelers too many choices — 500 hotels in Barcelona — and not enough curation, or opinion. By contrast, new technology — and the human touch — “allow us to visualize perfect travel experiences.”