INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Berlin-based Zizoo— a startup which self describes as booking.com for boats — has nabbed a €6.5 million (~$7.4M) Series A to help more
millennialsfind holiday yachts to mess about taking selfies in.
Zizoo says its Series A — which was led by Revo Capital, with
participation from new investors including Coparion, Check24 Ventures and PUSH Ventures — was &significantly oversubscribed&.
Existing
investors including MairDumont Ventures, aws Founders Fund, Axel Springer Digital Ventures and Russmedia International also participated
in the round.
We first came across Zizoo somethree years ago when they won our pitching competition in Budapest.
We&re happy to say they&ve
come a long way since, with a team that now 60-people strong, and business relationships with ~1,500 charter companies — serving up more
than 21,000 boats for rent, across 30 countries, via a search and book platform that caters to a fullrange of&sailing experiences&, from
experienced sailor to novice and, on the pricing front, luxury to budget.
Registered users passed the 100,000 mark this year, according to
founder and CEO Anna Banicevic
She also tells us that revenue growth has been 2.5x year-on-year for the past three years.
Commenting on the Series A in a statement, Revo
Capital managing director Cenk Bayrakdar said: &The yacht charter market is one of the most underserved verticals in the travel industry
despite its huge potential
We believe in Zizoo successful future as a leading SaaS-enabled marketplace.&
The new funds will be put towards growing the business —
including by expanding into new markets; plus product development and recruitment across the board.
Zizoo founder and CEO Anna Banicevic at
its Berlin offices
&We&re looking to strengthen our presence in the US, where we&ve seen the biggest YoY growth while also expand our
inventory in hot locations such as Greece, Spain and the Caribbean,& says Banicevic on market expansion
&We will also be aggressively pushing markets such as France and Spain where consumers show a growing interest in boat holidays.&
Zizoo is
intending to hire 40 more employeesover the course of the next year — to meet what it dubs &the booming demand for sailing experiences,
especially among millennials&.
So why do millennials love boating holidays so much Zizoo says the 20-40 age range makes up the &majority& of
its customer.
Banicevic reckons the answer is they&re after a slice of ‘affordable luxury&.
&After the recent boom of the cruising
industry, millennials are well familiar with the concept of holidays at sea
However, sailing holidays (yachting) are much more fitting to the millennial strive for independence, adventure and experiences off the
beaten path,& she suggests.
&Yachting is a growing trend no longer reserved for the rich and famous — and millennials want a piece of that
On our platform, users can book a boat holiday for as low as £25 per person per night (this is an example of a sailboat in Croatia).&
On
the competition front, she says the main competition is the offline sphere (&where 90% of business is conducted by a few large and many
small travel agents&).
But a few rival platforms have emerged &in the last few years& — and here she reckons Zizoo has managed to outgrow
the startup competition &thanks to our unique vertically integrated business model, offering suppliers a booking management system and
making it easy for the user to book a boat holiday&.
