Online customized tourism operator Planetveo announced today that they’ve raised €15 million with Iris Capital and european investment company Gimv. Having raised €3.5 million with Alven in ’08 and ’11, this brings their total VC investment to-date to €18.5 million. Planetveo launched in 2007 via a series of customized tourism websites focused on specific destinations (e.g. baliveo.com, costaricaveo.com, etc) and now operates about 40 destination specific sites.
These sites are essentially platforms for tourism operators looking to reach consumers that still seek customized travel experiences rather than the standardized packages they can find on sites such as Expedia, GO Voyages, or Travelocity. At €1,200, the type of travel packages sold on the site are definitely more on the high-end, which helped spur Planetveo to profitability in 2011 and to €40 million in revenues in 2012, a whopping 83% increase over the previous year.
Planetveo is looking to deploy their new funding to reinforce their position in France via increased investments in marketing and tech development as well as to help drive their expansion abroad. According to cofounder Geoffrey de Becdelièvre, the first step in going abroad, which they expect to kick-off in 2014/2015, will be to expand throughout Europe and to South America. They’ve already launched a mini-test in the UK, travel.japanveo.com, so will have a bit of international experience under their belt before expanding more broadly. Becdelièvre is expecting that this strategy will enable them to keep up the rapid growth rate they’ve experienced thus far, getting them to €200 million in revenues in 5 years time.