Travel Experiences Marketplace Headout Raises $12M to Expand to 300 Cities & Reaches EBITDA Profitability

Industry: Travel & Leisure

Fueled by tailwinds in domestic travel demand, Headout has grown 800% since Jan '21 and is emerging stronger than ever from the pandemic to lead the recovery in experiences

New York, NY (PRUnderground) September 10th, 2021

Headout, home to world’s most exceptional real-life experiences, has raised $12 million in Series B financing round led by Glade Brook Capital. The round also saw participation from existing investors Version One Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, FJ Labs, 500 Startups, Haystack and Ludlow Ventures and new investors Espresso Capital and Practical VC.

As a managed and a mobile-first marketplace of experiences, Headout is the most seamless and delightful way to experience the real world in just three taps. Unlike the existing aggregators, Headout leverages technology and its operational know-how to actively standardise, upgrade and curate experiences provided by its partners across the world. As a result, travelers get access to reliable and a superior service in a notoriously fragmented market no matter where they are in the world – be it a tour of a neighbourhood in Athens or tickets to the Sydney Opera or a ride on the dunes of the deserts of Dubai or last-minute access to a Broadway show.

With travel rebound strengthening, Headout has delivered 800% growth since Jan ’21 by doubling down on domestic and local travel demand which used to be a minority segment pre-pandemic. This growth found it a place in Andreesen Horowitz’s list of top 100 fastest growing marketplaces. It’s managed model delivers a better user experience and hence a higher conversion rate. A combination of the rapid growth and the positive unit economics saw the company turning EBITDA profitable in July ’21. So far, 9 million people from 190 countries have been on a Headout experience across 30+ cities.

COVID effectively reset the counters and Headout is now leading the recovery charge. The funds will be used to further accelerate this growth by expanding to 300+ cities, to evolve its product to build cutting-edge solutions the post-pandemic needs of a traveler and to invest in product, business, marketing and operations teams. Headout is hiring an additional 150+ employees across the globe that care about its mission and identify with its values. The company is actively pursuing acqui-hires of travel, entertainment and AR centric startups to help shape its future direction.

“The world is an incredibly boring place without travel and real-life experiences. COVID has only made us more relentless on our mission to inspire people to experience the world out there,” said Varun Khona, Co-founder & CEO of Headout. “With this round and our profitability milestone, all our focus is on expansion and long-term investments to aid travel recovery. Excited to welcome Linda and Glade Brook to the team. With their track-record of investing in iconic marketplaces like Airbnb, Meituan, Tujia, Uber, Instacart and Zomato, we’re glad to have them on our side.”

“Our team has been impressed by Headout’s ability to drive strong revenue growth with profitable unit economics,” said Linda Guo, Partner at Glade Brook Capital. “Given the low online penetration for travel experiences, we see a significant opportunity for Headout to digitize the sector, particularly into the post-COVID recovery period. Glade Brook is pleased to partner with the Headout team to further accelerate growth and geographic expansion.”

About Headout

Headout is home to the world’s most exceptional real-life experiences. Its mission is to inspire people to see the world we live in by being the most seamless and delightful way to experience it. It serves 30 destinations around the world, has had 9M+ people head out on its experiences and is available in 6 languages. For more information about Headout, please visit www.headout.com. The app is available to download for free on the App Store and Google Play.

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