Berlin The travel experience portal Getyourguide can now take off with fresh capital from investors and banks after the pandemic-related lull. The Berlin start-up will receive a total of 194 million dollars for further growth, as the Handelsblatt learned in advance. The round consists of equity and debt capital.
According to corporate circles, Getyourguide succeeded in doing something that only a few start-ups can do in the current difficult financing environment: The company is now valued at two billion dollars, significantly higher than in 2019, when 1.4 billion dollars were achieved. At that time, the international venture capitalists Softbank from Japan and Temasek from Singapore came on board and turned Getyourguide into a unicorn.
At the same time, the Berlin-based company managed to get through the round without further concessions – i.e. special rights for investors.
“We came back from the pandemic as a much bigger and better company,” said company boss and co-founder Johannes Reck to the Handelsblatt. He justified this with the cuts in the corona crisis: “We went through a drastic cure back then.”
During the pandemic, the Berlin start-up generated almost no income because nobody was traveling. Getyourguide needed to drastically cut expenses. There were mass layoffs, and the workforce shrank by around 300 to just 500 employees.
Getyourguide has increased efficiency
There are now 800 employees again. Many new ones were added in the fields of artificial intelligence and data analysis. Reck explains that Getyourguide has become more efficient over time: “We’re further along than other companies that are now in crisis.” The start-ups in particular, which were overwhelmed with capital during the pandemic, now have big problems, in general to get fresh funding.
Worldwide, Getyourguide now offers over 75,000 activities from more than 16,000 providers, including guided tours of the Colosseum in Rome, cruises on the Seine and Harry Potter walking tours of London. According to the company, travelers from more than 150 countries have made more than 80 million bookings since it was spun off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) in 2008.
However, the competition is getting bigger. For example, you can also book travel activities with the holiday giant Tui.
>> Read more here: Billion market for tours and excursions: Tui is breaking new ground
The head of the Tui subsidiary Musement, David Schelp, estimates the sales generated in the tours and activities business before the crisis at 170 billion euros. This is the third largest market in global tourism, behind air travel and hotels. The growth rates are said to have been seven to eight percent per year until the corona crisis. According to Schelp, these should be achieved again this year. Reck is now primarily focusing on the North American market, where Getyourguide is expected to grow strongly.
Company to become profitable in 2023
Since its inception, the company has never been profitable. That should change now. “We will achieve profitability as a whole this year,” announces Reck. In the first quarter alone, sales quadrupled compared to the pre-Corona year 2019. However, the founder, who studied biochemistry with a focus on brain research, does not want to give any specific figures.
“We will achieve profitability this year as a whole company.”
(Photo: GetYourGuide)
Should Getyourguide break even this year, the start-up would be independent of investors in one fell swoop. The round of financing was actually not necessary, says Reck. That was certainly a major reason the company received money from investors and banks at all.
Blue Capital comes on board
According to the data provider Crunchbase, Getyourguide had already raised almost 890 million dollars before the latest cash injection. Investors included Spark Capital and Heartcore Capital, but Lakestar and Atlantic Labs are also supporting the start-up.
The current $85 million equity round was led by Blue Pool Capital, with participation from KKR and Temasek. Getyourguide has the potential to become the world market leader in the travel experiences category, said Blue Pool boss Oliver Weisberg. According to company sources, Softbank was not there.
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Unicredit, in turn, provided the $109 million revolving credit facility, which also included participation from BNP Paribas, Citibank and KfW. “I’m proud that we were able to take out such a large loan,” says Reck. “The banks have increased interest in Getyourguide and trust our business model.”
Ultimately, trust should pay off for investors. That would be especially the case with an IPO. “We can pursue takeovers or an IPO if the markets are open for it,” explains Reck. He does not want to name a point in time for the latter.
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