HEADOUT has raised US$12 million in Series B financing round to expand its geographical reach and reach EBITDA profitability.
The Series B round was led by Glade Brook Capital, with participation from existing investors Version One Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, FJ Labs, 500 Startups, Haystack and Ludlow Ventures.
New investors in the latest financing include Espresso Capital and Practical VC.
With this latest funding the company has raised a total of US$27.7 million in funding over eight rounds.
Focus is on expansion to aid travel recovery: Varun Khona.
Headquartered in New York, Headout was founded in 2014 by Varun Khona (CEO), Suren Sultania (COO) and Vikram Jit Singh (CTO). The web and mobile-based activities platform allows travellers to discover and book tour packages.
According to Headout, it has seen 800% growth since January this year with the gradual recovery in travel “by doubling down on domestic and local travel demand, which used to be a minority segment pre-pandemic.” It has also has turned EBITDA profitable in July of the same year.
The company plans to use the fresh funds to expand to 300 new cities from its current 30, hire an additional 150 employees, as well as in product development
“The world is an incredibly boring place without travel and real-life experiences. Covid has only made us more relentless on our mission to inspire people to experience the world out there,” said Varun Khona.
“With this round and our profitability milestone, all our focus is on expansion and long-term investments to aid travel recovery.”
Added Linda Guo, partner at Glade Brook Capital: “Given the low online penetration for travel experiences, we see a significant opportunity for Headout to digitise the sector, particularly into the post-Covid recovery period.”
• Images credit: Headout
