French travel site with Dutch roots raises €4M funding, aims to compete with travel tech giants

Loisirs Enchères, a French auction site for holidays and leisure activities, has raised funds worth €4 million. The funding has come from Bpifrance’s Ambition Numérique (FAN) GALIA Gestion, GSO Innovation and Crédit Agricole Aquitaine Expansion Fund. Notably, the founders of the company, Dirk Jan Koekkoek, and Michael van Beers, has Dutch roots.

How Loisirs Enchères came into existence?

In 2007, Koekkoek and Van Beers founded Vakantieveilingen.nl, which was operational in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, along with Marcel Beemsterboer. In 2011, they sold their shares. And three years later, Koekkoek and Van Beers started with Loisirs Enchères.

The company forayed in the French market with an aim to surpass the language barrier in the Nordic countries. Compatible with jubilant gaming element of the French lifestyle, Loisirs Enchères intends to gravitate towards gamification. Further, the French start-up climate acted as a catalyst to this enterprise.

Gearing up to take the market by the storm

With more than 650,000 active members, Loisirs Enchères allows its users to choose from offers from over 1200 partners in and around Paris and Bordeaux. And, Van Beers is quite elated that all the users who have registered so far, have also placed bids. Also, he admitted that their experience with Vakantieveilingen.nl has helped them shape Loisirs Enchères well.

With the motto to start small and expand further, the company is ready to race alongside its competitors especially when the market is showcasing a higher occupancy rate amongst the suppliers. And, this is reflected by the company’s decision to appoint Frédéric Bonfils as COO in April, this year.

Capital Boost

With €4 million funding, Loisirs Enchères plans to significantly enhance the platform. The business model is aiming to optimisze their occupancy rate by auctioning hotels, weekend breaks, dinners, and tickets, among others.

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