Sustainable vacation booking platform Campspace raised €3M in a funding round led by VNV Global, former Booking.com board member David Vismans and former executive Andrea Carini, according to multiple reports on Thursday (April 21). Campspace also acquired its German competitor Pop-Up Camps.
With the acquisition of Pop-Up Camps, the company will take on new campsites and hosts. Campspace plans to use its new capital to further its offering throughout Germany and the rest of Europe.
Campspace offers a digital platform that caters to both hosts and guests. The platform enables hosts to create an account and rent out their location, whether it’s camping in a yurt, treehouse or cabin.
Upon signing up, hosts also get a scout who will visit the location and take photos. Once a guest makes a reservation and pays, hosts are sent money within 24 hours after check-in.
The platform also enables guests to find unique overnight stays and experiences in nature that are close to their homes.
“By opening up hidden outdoor stays closer to home, we make tourism more sustainable and meet the needs of the next generation of travelers,” said Hugo van Donselaar, Campspace’s CEO and cofounder.
Campspace has over 2,000 unique places to stay in over 30 countries. Its ultimate goal is to make sustainable outdoor stays available to all.
Campspace aims to focus on supporting local tourism and wants to ensure a “genuine human connection is of priority.”
“We live in the most well-connected time in human history, but on a person-to-person level, we remain incredibly unconnected,” van Donselaar added. “Our platform provides people with unique experiences and memories, but not at the cost of the planet and local communities.
According to the Campspace blog, “Supporting and respecting local communities as well as their environment is at the core of being a responsible traveller.”
Investment in the travel sector is only recently beginning to show signs of new life after a brutal blow during the pandemic.
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