TrovaTrip, a travel planning and booking platform that enables developers to host adventures with their communities, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Madrona. Founded in 2017, the Portland-based company makes it easy for developers to sell and host multi-day experiences around the world. TrovaTrip offers more than 150 experiences in 48 countries. To date, more than 15,000 travelers have used TrovaTrip to book an experience.
The platform includes bookable experiences such as hiking in Patagonia, textile sourcing in Morocco, yoga in Bali and more. Hosts, as developers are called on the platform, set their price for a specific experience they will be hosting. TrovaTrip then provides a landing page for hosts to post and promote their trip and then start accepting bookings. Hosts can also set up an email marketing campaign in addition to promoting their bookable experience through their social media channels.
TrovaTrip handles payment processing, customer support and travel management, and covers the host with free insurance during the trip. The company charges a 10% service fee and a 2.9% transaction fee.
All excursions are organized and operated by a certified tour operator and include a local guide to ensure a safe experience. Trips include accommodation, transportation between cities, listed meals, and guided activities relevant to the theme of the trip. Examples of travel categories and themes include photography, exploration, health and wellness, food, LGBTQ+, yoga and more.
The platform was founded by TrovaTrip CEO Nick Poggi, CRO Lauren Schneider and CTO Brandon Denham. The idea for TrovaTrip came about when Poggi, Schneider and some of their friends were planning a two-week holiday trip to Europe but couldn’t find group travel opportunities for young professionals, Poggi said in an interview with TechCrunch. While on the journey, they began devising a plan to build the solution they desired. Poggi then brought Denham on board, after which the trio came up with the idea of creating a platform that not only allows you to travel, but travel while also learning something you’re passionate about with someone you look up to.
Photo credit: TrovaTrip
“Rather than selling these experiences directly to customers, we thought, let’s build a platform that makes it easy for developers to offer and host experiences with their communities,” Poggi said. “This would create an authentic and reputable revenue stream for developers while helping them build their community. The concept worked and resulted in a pretty incredible experience. Our first trip was to Italy and the next two to Portugal.”
The Company’s Series A funding round included participation from existing investors PSL Ventures, Oregon Venture Fund, Elevate Capital and Portland Seed Fund. TrovaTrip will use the new funding to further advance its platform and open access to more developers, Poggi says.
“We are very focused on continuing to improve our platform to provide a superior experience for our hosts, travelers and operators,” said Poggi. “We will increase our sales and marketing efforts to open the platform to more developers and their communities. We’ve only scratched the surface with the different categories and themes we could potentially work with. We are very excited to open up the platform a bit more on the host side. And then we will continue to work on expanding our itinerary choices across different destinations.”
TrovaTrip’s Series A funding round follows the company’s $5 million seed funding led by PSL Ventures, announced in August 2021. The company has raised $20 million in funding to date.
Looking ahead, TrovaTrip plans to further develop its platform to be a serious source of income for creators. The company notes that it is already becoming the main source of income for some developers. TrovaTrip also plans to make travel safer and raise the bar for quality group travel.
