Travel experiences marketplace Headout said Thursday that it has raised $ 12 million as part of its Series B funding round led by Glade Brook Capital.
The round also featured participation from existing investors, including Version One Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, FJ Labs, 500 Startups, Haystack and Ludlow Ventures and new investors Espresso Capital and Practical VC.
The seven-year-old startup is an online marketplace offering curated experiences to travelers from around the world. Unlike existing aggregators, Headout claims to leverage technology and its operational knowledge to actively standardize, update, and curate experiences provided by its partners around the world.
“The world is an incredibly boring place without travel and real life experiences. Covid has only made us more relentless in our mission to inspire people to experience the world out there. With this round and our profitability milestone, all our focus is on expansion and long-term investments to help travel recovery, “said Varun Khona, co-founder and CEO of Headout.
Headout has seen strong growth since January 2021, doubling its efforts to meet domestic and local travel demand, which used to be a minority segment before the pandemic. The company also claims that it became profitable at the level of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) in July this year.
“Our team has been impressed by Headout’s ability to drive strong revenue growth with a profitable unit economy. Given the low online penetration for travel experiences, we see a significant opportunity for Headout to digitize the industry, particularly in the post-covid recovery period. Glade Brook is pleased to partner with the Headout team to further accelerate growth and geographic expansion, “said Linda Guo, Partner at Glade Brook Capital.
Currently, Headout serves 30 destinations around the world and has more than 9 million people taking advantage of the diverse experiences offered on the platform.