A Portland travel startup has raised $15 million as it looks to further expand its business.
TrovaTrip will use the money to bolster its trip management and planning platform. TrovaTrip’s platform connects trip hosts to vetted tour operators and helps those hosts sell trips to their audiences. The company has grown despite travel industry headwinds created by the Covid 19 pandemic.
Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group led the round, in which existing backers PSL Ventures, Oregon Venture Fund, Elevate Capital and Portland Seed Fund also participated.
The five-year-old company's bookings grew 10 times through the pandemic, reaching the $15 million mark last year.
“With over 15,000 travelers booked to date, our hosted experiences are resonating with customers, but we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible as we continue to grow our community," said TrovaTrip co-founder and CEO Nick Poggi in a written statement.
TrovaTrip is adding sales reps and engineers to its 56-worker base. Most of those employees work from the Portland headquarters.
The company has raised a total of $20 million from investors, including $5 million last summer.
As part of this deal, Madrona Managing Director Scott Jacobson is joining the TrovaTrip board.
“TrovaTrip continues to demonstrate leadership in a competitive space and in one of the most challenging environments in travel history,” said Jacobson in a written statement. “We believe in this leadership team and business, and we’re equally excited about the company’s innovative approach to travel and empowering creators with a compelling new revenue and engagement opportunity.”
TrovaTrip handles payment processing, customer support, traveler management, communication with in-venue tour operators and host insurance. It also allows hosts to set the trip prices for community members, thereby allowing hosts to control how much they make on a trip. The company also offers research tools.
