Tours
and activities online booking platform GetYourGuide has closed $194
million in equity and credit financing and plans to use the funding to expand in
key markets and to accelerate product innovation – including extensive work
with generative artificial intelligence.
The
financing comes in the form of $85 million in Series F funding led by Blue Pool
Capital with participation from KKR and Temasek and a revolving credit facility
of $109 million led by Unicredit with participation from BNP Paribas, Citibank
and KfW.
The
company said the round represents a “valuation increase” but would not disclose
a figure.
“In
the current market, we view this as a vote of confidence from our investors who
share our mission of unlocking unforgettable memories for travelers around the
globe,” said Johannes Reck, CEO and co-founder of GetYourGuide.
Subscribe to our newsletter below
“We
are still early in the transformation of our category and the larger $1.5
trillion experiences market. And our technology is poised to help drive
innovation and growth for our partners and customers alike.”
A key
part of that innovation strategy will involve the use of artificial intelligence
and large language models.
Last
week GetYourGuide launched
a plugin for ChatGPT, which enables users of the OpenAI platform to access
suggestions of experiences that match their preferences.
But chief
technology officer Udi Nir said the plugin is just one part of the company’s
strategy for using generative AI, a strategy that has been developing since OpenAI
released ChatGPT in November.
The
efforts are focused on using the technology to help GetYourGuide’s three key
stakeholders – travelers, supply partners and team members.
For
travelers, GetYourGuide wants to make it easier to sift through details about
the more than 75,000 activities available in its marketplace.
“We have lots of information about activities, points of interest and
destinations. Some from suppliers, some from influencers, some from reviews - and
in the future other user-generated content - and some our own,” Nir said.
“Imagine
if generative AI could make truly personalized recommendations, summarize key
reviews and ratings of each tour and even generate real examples using images
and video. Suddenly, instead of spending hours researching and reading, a traveler
can spend just a few minutes deciding how they’ll spend their holiday.”
![Quote Quote](https://ik.imgkit.net/3vlqs5axxjf/PCWW/dist/images/icon-quote.svg?tr=w-70%2Ch-45%2Cfo-auto)
Imagine if generative AI could make truly personalized recommendations, summarize key reviews and ratings of each tour and even generate real examples using images and video.
Udi Nir - GetYourGuide
To
help supply partners such as tour operators and experience creators grow their businesses,
Nir said GetYourGuide is developing ways to use generative AI to help them be
more effective at content management and to drive more bookings with reduced
manual work.
“Experiments are still early days here, but this is a key area of focus for
us,” he said.
And
for its internal operations, GetYourGuide is using AI to boost efficiency.
“As an example, we have
been leveraging GitHub Copilot since it launched [as] an AI assistant for
coding that helps our team be more productive,” Nir said.
GetYourGuide said its data
confirms that the travel experience category is growing, in part due to a shift
in consumer preferences to spend on experiences over traditional retail goods,
particularly among younger generations. The company said its booking volumes in
the first quarter of 2023 were close to four times the volume of the first
quarter of 2019.
“There
is immense opportunity in the digitization of the experiences industry, and we
believe GetYourGuide’s worldwide leadership and customer-centricity in the
category stems from its deep expertise in this complex space,” said Oliver
Weisberg, CEO of Blue Pool Capital.
“We
believe they are uniquely positioned to be the global leader in the category;
we are pleased to lead the equity financing, adding to our existing stake,
given the strength of the business.”
In
March GetYourGuide relaunched “Originals by GetYourGuide,” after announcing
late last year that it was phasing
out the initial iteration of the product.
The
new Originals by GetYourGuide is a curated collection of experiences and access
that the company said are exclusive to its platform.
Founded
in 2009, GetYourGuide offers activities from more than 16,000 experience
creators around the globe.
Prior
to today’s financing, GetYourGuide’s total funding was more than $883 million with its last
funding in February 2021 in the form of a revolving credit facility of €80 million.
Phocuswright Europe 2023
Tours and activities came of age during the pandemic as travelers' desire for new adventures and experiences sparked a rapid move to digitalization. Some of the largest players share their views on keeping the momentum going during this Center Stage session in Barcelona.