The London Technology Club (LTC), which includes some of the world’s leading technology investors, has invested in Outdoorsy, a web and application-based peer-to-peer marketplace for Recreational Vehicle (RV) rentals. LTC members are working with, and investing alongside venture capitalists such as Autotech Ventures, to enable the Outdoorsy platform to harness the significant growth in demand for hiring RVs.
Outdoorsy, which enables travellers to make a direct reservation without a middleman and unlocks the opportunity for RV owners to make a tangible income from renting their vehicles has experienced exponential growth since its launch in 2014. In the USA, 12 per cent of households own an RV, so around 20 million RVs sit idle 97 per cent of the time as a depreciating asset. Since most RVs are utilised by owners only a few days each year, they can be rented out the rest of the time in a win-win transaction. Outdoorsy was named by renowned venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz as the third fastest-growing travel marketplace, earning the No28 spot on the Marketplace 100, a ranking of the largest and fastest-growing consumer-facing marketplace startups and private companies.
After an initial dip at the start of Covid-19 restrictions, bookings rebounded by over 4,500 per cent between 1 April and 20 June 2020 as people changed their recreational habits to holiday with an RV rather than by air. Demand is set to continue to soar driven by other tailwinds such as record-low fuel prices in the USA and the passage by the US Senate of the Great American Outdoors Act, which has provided additional funding and provision for national parks and other public land. Outdoorsy estimates that 46 million Americans will travel via RV over the next year and Outdoorsy estimates the global total addressable market to be USD50 billion.
London Technology Club Founder and Chief Executive Officer Konstantin Sidorov says: “We’re delighted to have secured an investment in Outdoorsy alongside some of the world’s leading VC investors. The team has already raised circa USD75 million, with USD50 million raised in January 2019 as part of a Series C round. It is an exciting, high growth technology company which is set to continue to benefit from more domestic recreation and holidays. We look forward to helping the business to achieve its full potential.”
The investment in Outdoorsy is the sixteenth investment by LTC in the past 12 months including Revolut, Flo Health, Knotel, Mira Labs and Reflektion.
