Milan-based WeRoad, a travel tech scaleup, announced on Monday that it has secured €18M in a Series B round of funding led by H14, with participation from a consortium of investors. The latest round brings the total amount raised to €36M.
The capital infusion will help the Italian startup fuel its growth and develop technology to enhance scalability.
WeRoad aims to cement its position in the five current markets of operations and expand its presence across Europe before global expansion.
In addition, the Italian firm is planning to create a comprehensive marketplace for travel producers, travel coordinators, and service suppliers, including Destination Management Companies (DMCs).
This expansion extends into ‘off-travel’ activities, offering WeRoaders a variety of events, meetups, and experiences, all managed and booked through a dedicated app.
Andrea D’Amico, CEO of WeRoad, says, “This round doubles our total investment to date and is a strong endorsement by both existing and new investors of the WeRoad success story. In just five years, despite a global pandemic, we’ve captured the group adventure travel market. And over the past 12 months, we’ve doubled our turnover and significantly enhanced our future growth potential by increasing our community of travel coordinators in Europe from 1,200 to 2,500, paving the way for an exciting future.”
WeRoad: Reinventing group travel for millennials
Erika De Santi, Fabio Bin, and Paola De Nadai founded WeRoad in 2017 to reinvent group travel for millennials.
The platform aims to provide a unique travel experience that combines local culture and social opportunities for millennials.
The company’s itineraries are designed for people of similar age groups to travel together and are led by travel coordinators. These coordinators are not typical tour guides but fellow travelers passionate about exploring faraway lands.
The position of a travel coordinator is highly sought after, with over 4,000 applications received by WeRoad each year, claims the company.
A unique feature of the WeRoad offer is WeRoadX, a curated marketplace where WeRoad travel coordinators can create new, self-designed custom itineraries that add to WeRoad’s offerings.
WeRoadX, a part of the growth strategy, was launched in Italy in 2023 and saw over 200 new itineraries to 50 new destinations.
Over the past year, the Italian travel startup has expanded to France and Germany, building on its success in Italy, Spain, and the UK.
It has a strong community DNA with a large social following of over 2.5M followers.
With the strength of its 2,500+ coordinators, WeRoad has helped over 100,000 travellers discover the world and make new friends in more than 300 itineraries.
Around 60 percent of its customers rebook year-on-year, and a third of its bookings result from word of mouth.
The investors
H14 is an Italian family office and qualified shareholder of Fininvest SpA, one of the largest European media groups.
H14 invests in various asset classes, including venture and growth capital direct investments, private equity funds, hedge funds, and broad capital markets.
The geographical focus of its investments is mainly on North America and Europe, but it also opportunistically invests in emerging markets worldwide.
As an investor in Venture and Growth capital, H14 is a long-term partner in supporting digital entrepreneurs and companies to expand their business across Europe through its strategic network.
Riccardo Porcelli, Head of Digital Investments at H14, says, “We have observed how the travel sector has become increasingly resilient and non-discretionary, especially among millennials. We’ve been tracking WeRoad for a while and are extremely impressed with the community and platform they’ve built quickly. We’re excited to join their story and look forward to supporting the team in their next growth phase.”
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