Bengaluru-based Travel Startup Wandertrails.com Raises USD One Million in Seed Funding

BENGALURU:
Wandertrails, a Bengaluru-based online experiential travel platform, has raised one million US dollars in seed funding in a short span of time, giving the startup strong financial muscle to chalk out plans for expanding its operations across the country and build more innovative products for its growing clientele.
Wandertrails aims to build India’s largest network of experiential stays and what it calls ‘immersive’ activities by 2020. It currently hosts more than 5,000 experiential stays and immersive activities in 65 destinations across 12 states.
Launched in July 2016, Wandertrails has raised the funds from Earlsfield Capital, a UK-based venture capital firm of entrepreneurs-turned-investors.
“We raised one million US dollars in a turbulent investment scenario. It is a reaffirmation of the vision of Wandertrails. It will give the company a strong financial cushion for executing its expansion plans on a pan-India basis,” said Vishnu Menon, co-founder & CEO of the company, an IIM Calcutta graduate and a former Bain consultant.
Meraj Alam, Managing Partner, Earlsfield said, “We were super-impressed with their ability to execute and the supply they have built in a very short time in a capital-efficient manner. We talked to a large number of their customers, both from within India and Europe, and the net promoter scores we have witnessed are incredibly high. We believe this is the next iteration in travel and we are very positive they are building a strong business with great fundamentals.”
Travellers can choose from a wide range of stay options, like homestays, treehouses, house boats, heritage homes, tented and camping stays to boutique resorts. They also offer exciting activities like treks and adventure trails, culinary sessions, heritage walks, art trails, wellness sessions and cycling tours. Users of the platform can book either stays or activities, or choose to combine them and make an experience-led trail.
The company’s USP lies in going beyond the obvious. “Be it staying in a jungle lodge and going on a walking jungle safari; staying in a tribal settlement and going honey-gathering with a tribal chieftain; staying at a desert camp and going on a camel safari; or staying in an apple orchard at the foothills of the Himalayas and detoxing with yoga; all our unique offerings have been crafted to meet the aspirations of the new-age traveller” Vishnu added.
“Which is why you will not find any block hotel on Wandertrails.com. A
hotel is always a standard fare wherever you go and there are many platforms which do a great job at offering those. Our focus is entirely on creating great experiences and all our stays have been hand-picked to ensure that.”
For travelers looking for help in crafting trips, Wandertrails has a concierge service which helps them fine-tune the itinerary to the last detail and is backed up with robust customer support. “We want every customer to eventually become an ambassador for the company by building a credible level of trust with them through our service right from the initial interaction with us and through every step of their journey with us,” Vishnu said.