Vacation Rentals and Luxury Trips: Travel Startups Raise $106 Million

Short-term rental platforms have not been raising money in 2024 quite as often as last year. But they made a bit of a comeback this week with two niche platforms getting nearly $50 million in funding. 

One is a growing platform for renting camper vans — interestingly, a much smaller U.S. competitor shut down in the last year for lack of funding. The other is for renting “handpicked” vacation rentals in Europe, a startup founded by several former Airbnb employees.

Six travel startups announced fundraises in the past week totaling over $100 million. 

Indie Campers: $38.1 Million

Indie Campers, a platform for renting RVs and camper vans, has raised $38.1 million (€35 million). 

Indico Capital Partners led the round, with support from Cedros Capital and GED Ventures.

The Lisbon-based startup says it rents 7,000 of its own vehicles as well as others owned by individual and professional hosts. The vehicles are available in Europe, Oceania, and North America. 

The funding will go toward developing the digital platform, adding new products and services, hiring, and expanding globally. 

Planned: $35 Million

Planned, a sourcing and booking platform for events, has raised $35 million in series B funding.

Drive Capital led the round, with support from Outsiders Fund and two other undisclosed firms.

The company has now raised a total of $65 million.

Montreal-based Planned said the funding will go toward expanding AI-powered capabilities, global expansion, and adding travel booking capabilities.  

(See Skift’s story.)

Landfolk: $11.2 Million

Landfolk, a vacation rental platform founded by former Airbnb employees, has raised $11.2 million (€10.3 million) in series A funding.

EIFO led the round, with support from SEED Capital and Heartland.

Denmark-based Landfolk says it helps owners rent their vacations homes during the majority of the year when they normally would sit empty. The company says there are 1.3 million vacation homes in northern Europe, and 85% of them are unused for an average of 300 days per year. 

The startup has more than 3,000 homes in its portfolio in Denmark, Norway, Germany, and Sweden. The tech platform includes connections with cleaning companies so that owners can automate housekeeping.

The funding will go toward expanding into other European markets, improving product automation, and increasing marketing. 

Namma Yatri: $11 Million

Moving Tech Innovations, the startup behind Indian mobility apps Namma Yatri and Yatri Sathi, has raised a pre-series A funding round of $11 million.

Blume Ventures and Antler co-led the round, with support from Google and other investors.

The Namma Yatri app allows consumers to book rides with auto rickshaws, taxis, and public transport. It’s available in several Indian cities including Bengaluru and Delhi. Yatri Sathi, an app based on the same model, is managed by the West Bengal government for consumers in that region.

Rather than taking a cut of each ride price, the company charges a fee to drivers: 90 Indian rupees ($1.07) per day for the unlimited plan, and they are only charged for the day if they complete at least one ride. Riders pay drivers directly for the service.

The company says this model keeps prices down for all parties, as compared to other rideshare apps.

Essentialist: $10 Million

Essentialist, a members-only travel agency focused on luxury trips, has raised $10 million in series A funding.

IRIS Ventures led the round, with support from a group of angel investors.

Spain-based Essentialist says it offers travel packages for nearly 1,000 destinations worldwide. The startup said it has a network of more than 200 travel and lifestyle editors that review and update 2,500 recommendations on an ongoing basis.

The annual membership fee is $2,600 per household, according to the startup’s website. The company also offers corporate memberships.

The funding will go toward marketing, product curation, strengthening the tech platform, and growing its consumer and business-to-business products.

TurnStay: $300,000

TurnStay, a payments platform for travel companies in Africa, has raised $300,000 (5.4 million South African rands). 

The investment comes from DFS Lab and DCG. 

South Africa-based TurnStay says its platform is able transfer a foreign customer’s payment to the African travel company in a way that minimizes transaction fees, using various features including determining the least expensive intermediaries for each individual transaction. Clients can also embed the TurnStay product on their own websites, meant to improve the payment experience and increase direct bookings.

The startup said payments fees can be much higher for African businesses, especially when an online travel agency is involved. The company says its product has reduced costs by 70% for some clients.

“The average merchant spends 12% of revenue on getting paid — often, this can be the difference between making a profit or a loss and dramatically affects the viability of many businesses in a sector that employs over 6 million people in Africa,” said James Hedley, TurnStay co-founder, in a statement.

Skift Cheat Sheet

Seed capital is money used to start a business, often led by angel investors and friends or family.

Series A financing is typically drawn from venture capitalists. The round aims to help a startup’s founders make sure that their product is something that customers truly want to buy.

Series B financing is mainly about venture capitalist firms helping a company grow faster. These fundraising rounds can assist in recruiting skilled workers and developing cost-effective marketing.

Series C financing is ordinarily about helping a company expand, such as through acquisitions. In addition to VCs, hedge funds, investment banks, and private equity firms often participate.

Series D, E, and, beyond These mainly mature businesses and the funding round may help a company prepare to go public or be acquired. A variety of types of private investors might participate.