Secret Escapes, one of the world’s leading, members-only online travel and experiences companies, today announces an investment from Idinvest Partners.
Secret Escapes was launched from London in 2011 by Alex Saint and Tom Valentine and it managed to prove its model very quickly in its home market, becoming profitable and the undisputed leading travel club in the UK in only a couple of years.
Secret Escapes is now active in 13 countries, has attracted over 25 million subscribers and is progressively replicating the success experienced in the UK. The company took leading positions in Germany, Sweden and Poland and also recently started to see significant traction in the US as well as signing fruitful partnerships with Jetsetter and Gilt.
Following the $60 million Series C fundraising closed by the company during the summer of 2015, Idinvest Partners decided to join some of the most successful international venture firms (Google Ventures, Octopus Ventures, Index Ventures, etc.) by taking a minority stake in the company. As a result, Guillaume Durao, Investment Director at Idinvest Partners will be joining Secret Escapes’ board of directors as an observer.
Guillaume Durao, Investment Director at Idinvest, said: “Secret Escapes is simply one of the most promising digital companies in Europe right now. It has proven in the UK that it could build a massive, loyal, discerning and profitable base of customers in a very short period of time. Given the company’s execution capabilities, their ambition and their level of funding, we are confident that they can do the same in other European countries and even in the US and in Asia where they have started to build the appropriate supply of hotels. We are convinced that Secret Escapes can become a global multi-billion turnover business in the coming years and the place for smart consumers looking to book their holidays. So, when we had the opportunity to partner with the company, especially as they have an increasing interest in France, it was a no brainer for us” declared.
Secret Escapes Co-Founder and CEO, Alex Saint, added: “We’re hugely excited about the position that we’ve carved for ourselves in Europe and more recently in the US. Our already proven model is really starting to benefit from some excellent economies of scale as we expand in to more territories. 2016 is set to be another year of aggressive growth and we’re delighted to have Idinvest around the table with us.”
Secret Escapes joins Onfido on the list of successful London-based startups recently backed by Idinvest Partners. Historically associated to most of the success stories of the French digital ecosystem (Criteo, Meetic, Dailymotion, Deezer, etc.), Idinvest Partners remains the most active venture capital firm in France while expanding its footprint outside of its home country with recent investments that include the likes of Kantox (Spain), Nosto (Finland), Peakon (Denmark) and Financefox (Germany).