Turneo, a leading travel tech start-up focused on experiential hospitality, today announced the successful closing of a €2m seed investment round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Underline Ventures. 

The investment will accelerate Turneo’s mission to revolutionise hospitality by enabling world’s leading hotels to offer incredible in-destination activities to their guests. In addition to growing the team, the funding will enable expansion into new markets and significant product enhancements.

Founded in 2022, Turneo enables hotels to manage their entire activities offering in one place. It allows hotel guests to browse and book in-destination activities and transfers on the hotel website or app. At the same time, it provides hotels with a single platform where the entire offering of in-house and partner activities is managed. This includes creating and publishing new activities, partnering with local providers, as well as reviewing activities data, insights and reviews from their guests.

“Travellers plan and book activities before arriving at their destination”, said Fran Kauzlaric, co-founder of Turneo. “With Turneo, hotels can finally showcase their destinations and manage the activity offering to their guests. This means happier guests, with additional revenue and less operational hassle for hotels”.

Data they are seeing from the 2024 Europe summer season is fantastic: guests who booked activities gave hotels on average 8% higher ratings on reviews sites, and over two thirds of guests who booked activities at hotels using the platform did so online.  Recent years have seen a significant growth in the experiences and hotel activities market which is projected to reach $463bn by 2030. Turneo predicts $172bn will flow through hotels. 

“We are thrilled to have the support of such incredible investors as Bessemer Venture Partners and Underline Ventures,” said Matija Marijan, CEO and co-founder of Turneo. “This funding validates the huge opportunity as well as our vision, and it enables us to scale our operations, enhance our technology, and form critical partnerships so that we can empower more hotels to deliver amazing activities to their guests.”

Bessemer Venture Partners, a global leader in early-stage venture capital, recognised Turneo’s potential to disrupt the travel industry, following earlier investments in the likes of Shopify and Toast, as well as household names such as LinkedIn, Pinterest and Skype. Beyond just capital, their investment places Turneo at the forefront of the hospitality industry’s transformation, with the fund’s ability to leverage their expertise to guide the company towards becoming the industry leader.

"Historically, rooms were the main revenue driver for hotels. However, traveller preferences have changed dramatically over the last few years, and only selling rooms isn’t enough," said Aditya Nidmarti, investor at Bessemer Venture Partners and newly appointed Board Director at Turneo. "Turneo is playing right into this market shift by building a platform for hotels to seamlessly create, manage and monetise rich experiences for guests - whether it is spa treatments or in-destination tours."

“Turneo is uniquely positioned to transform how people experience travel and how hotels elevate destinations they operate in,” said Alex Ferrara, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, who previously led Shopify’s Series A round in 2010. “The company's focus on destination management and the role hospitality companies have in it is exactly what the industry needs. We see Turneo’s potential to revolutionise in-destination experiences.” The VC fund, known for their pivotal role in Shopify’s growth, sees Turneo as the next major disruptor in the hospitality tech space, positioning the company to lead the vertical software revolution in experiential travel.

With this new capital injection, Turneo plans to expand its product offerings, grow its global user base, and establish strategic partnerships with visionary global hoteliers. The company, which was previously recognized as one of the Hot 25 Travel Start-Ups for 2024 by PhocusWire, will also invest in further developing its AI-driven platform to offer even more personalised and efficient travel experiences through hotels.

Turneo is currently hiring for multiple roles. Please check them out on https://www.turneo.com/about-us.