Planning a trip can be quite a task with heaps of decisions to be made amid our busy lives! At times you go around in circles before you get anywhere. However, the whole process can be made easy if you find the right tools and apps to assist. Based out of Germany, Tourlane is one such platform that helps travellers with customised, exclusive multi-day trips.
Raised €17M funding
Recently, the Berlin-based planning and booking platform raised an additional $20M (approx €17M) as an extension of their 2019 Series C funding round. The existing investors including Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, DN Capital, and HV Capital, as well as both founders, participated in the round. This brings the overall funding to $100M (approx €84.3M).
The funding will help the company to accelerate the growth of its platform and its customer-centric vision of creating an end-to-end experience for booking unique individual trips.
“We deeply believe that this pandemic is an opportunity to rethink travel, and will be a catalyst for the Tourlane business model,” says Julian Stiefel, co-CEO & co-founder of Tourlane. “With this latest funding round, we are continuing to invest in our technology and product experience, while at the same time ensuring maximum flexibility for our customers.”
Founded by Stiefel, and Julian Weselek in 2016, Tourlane claims to combine proprietary technology with the experience and knowledge of specialised travel experts to make the planning and booking of multi-day trips seamless and personal for travellers.
How was Tourlane born?
According to its co-founders, researching a destination almost always begins on the internet, but a high volume of offers can soon make a traveller disorientated. Recognising this, both Julians committed to developing a travel company that removes any concerns and takes care of the planning.
“Our customers often struggle with the number of travel options available online. They want a travel company that takes care of all their booking needs whilst providing a personal, tailored service. Tourlane provides real-time support for our customers and uses digital technology to make each booking seamless. Our travel experts make offers that are non-binding—we want to show our customer what they can experience with Tourlane, before booking,” explains Stiefel.
Connects customers with travel experts
The company works directly with providers in more than 50 destinations globally; offering customers the chance to book flights, accommodations, tours, activities, and transfer options, all in one place.
“We were impressed by Tourlane’s ability to quickly and consistently adapt their strategy during such a turbulent year,” says Christian Saller, chairman of the Board of Tourlane and general partner at HV Capital. “The new investment will help to quickly transition into growth mode when the market recovers. We are more convinced than ever that Tourlane is perfectly positioned to create the best experience in travel.”
Main image credits: Tourlane