Viatu, a travel company utilising API and data-driven technology to simplify the booking process of multi-day sustainable adventures, has raised a $1 million seed round led by Ndoto LLC.
Participants in the round include Austrian sustainable travel marketplace, ASI Reisen, and a number of prominent angels, such as ex-Uber and founder of Ambo Ventures and Kenyan-based lodge Emboo Camp, Loic Amado. Viatu has raised $1.2M to-date.
Viatu will use its latest funding to finish building its direct booking system and launch the interface to its customers, while continuously improving the functionality of its product based on customer experience.
Co-founded in Zug, Switzerland, in 2020 by travel industry professionals Alfredo Seidemann (CEO), Johan Bodenstein (CTO) and Bárbara Buchel (Chief Impact Officer), Viatu makes responsible and sustainable travel easier to access by offering a data-driven, fully customisable trip builder with live pricing and availability, courtesy of API plug-ins, giving travellers control and ownership of their adventures.
Viatu is the first holiday travel-focused self-service website that enables people to have a ‘connected trip’ experience, where they can book every aspect of their itinerary – from accommodation, to experiences, to car rental – seamlessly through a single platform.
Viatu currently specialises in trips to sub-Saharan African destinations, such as Botswana, Namibia, Rwanda, and South Africa, and users can choose from a number of experiences, including eco-luxury getaways in the Etosha National Park, following Cape Town’s Garden Route, and spotting the ‘Big Five’ in the Okavango Delta. AI technology and API plug-ins simplify the booking process, allowing users to arrange their trips easily and efficiently through the website, with more destinations from across the globe to be added soon.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, prior to the pandemic, travel and tourism accounted for 10.3% of all jobs (333 million), and 10.3% of global GDP ($9.6T), illustrating its major impact on the world economy. However, tourism in its current form is leading to harmful consequences for the environment, with the sector being responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Travellers and practitioners are becoming more conscious about sustainable travel, as according to ABTA’s recent 2022 Holiday Habits report, more customers are now considering sustainability credentials to be an important factor when choosing which company to book their holiday with.
Additionally, the World Economic Forum released a white paper in 2022 advising travel and tourism companies of the importance of combating climate change, and other sustainability challenges, by developing products that enable more sustainable travel choices.
Bárbara Buchel, Co-founder and Chief Impact Officer at Viatu, comments: “Viatu aims to transform a process which could take up to two weeks, either individually or through a travel agent, into something that will take minutes. For example, we had a situation where a customer’s flight to Costa Rica had been cancelled, so they ended up planning and rebooking an entirely new two-week trip to Namibia while at the airport using Viatu, and within the hour they were boarding a flight to Windhoek“.
“We created Viatu to take the guesswork and extensive manual labour out of booking sustainable travel, and empower travellers to become an active force in enriching local environments, economies, and communities. The additional funding will allow us to further develop our platform to make arranging an adventure holiday from your smartphone as easy as booking a taxi or ordering a takeaway.”
Susan Miller, Co-founder of Ndoto LLC, comments: “We are big believers in Viatu’s vision to make sustainable travel simpler and easier for everyone. Viatu has proven that travel can be a force to enrich local communities by offering opportunities, as well as helping to promote self-expansion and an appreciation for the natural world around us.”
