Berlin-based startup GetYourGuide has raised $194 million in an $85 million Series F funding round and a revolving credit facility of $109 million, while also doubling its valuation from its last funding round in 2019 to $2 billion. The funding will be used to expand into new markets, add more experiences and improve the platform’s AI and other technologies, with investments from Blue Pool Capital, KKR and Temasek. GetYourGuide is a travel booking marketplace that allows tourists to book and discover new experiences, such as hiking, tours, and historical visits with a smartphone. The startup faced major losses during the pandemic with no revenues for a few quarters but has seen a significant rebound in bookings since late 2022, which executives hope will mean it can turn a profit in some markets.
GetYourGuide CEO and co-founder Johannes Reck expressed optimism during the pandemic, even though the company was one of the hardest hit startups in Europe, with zero revenues for multiple quarters. Reck bet that people would crave experiences and travel would return. The company received $484 million in funding from SoftBank a few months before the pandemic hit and secured another $133 million convertible note, leading to many layoffs and waiting for around two years for bookings to pick back up. However, business is now recovering, with volumes four times larger than its pre-pandemic Q1 2019 levels. Reck believes that group tours, led by an actual person, are the core product of GetYourGuide, and the company will not sell self-guided tours, virtual tours, or generative-AI created tours through the platform. Meanwhile, the company is exploring more uses of AI, such as its recent ChatGPT integration, to more naturally search its catalog of experiences.
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