GetYourGuide, a Berlin-based online travel agency for tours and activities, has raised $75 million in Series D funding, making it the largest-ever in its segment of the tourism industry.
Announcing the funding, the company says Battery Ventures – a new investor – has joined the company’s previous backers, including Sunstone Capital, KKR, Spark Capital, Highland Europe and Nokia Growth Partners.
This latest round of investing in GetYourGuide comes shortly after its Series C round of funding in November 2015 that, ultimately, raised $50 million. This funding came at the same time that a deal with Booking.com was announced.
The total amount of capital raised by the company has hit $170 million.
While this latest round of funding suggests that the company will remain “independent” – with CEO Johannes Reck telling Business Insider that he’d previously turned down multiple acquisition offers – GetYourGuide has promised to use this latest round of funding to focus on offering personalized experiences to customers.
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To do so, the company claims it will be using data acquired by AI and machine learning.
"Moving forward, we will continue to invest significant resources toward international expansion and enhancing our technology. Our goal is to provide travelers with the most relevant and personalized activities— no matter whether they’re planning for next year or just woke up in their hotel room and are getting inspired for the day ahead," says Reck in a post on Medium.
GetYourGuide’s latest round of funding suggests that, in the investment community, there is an increasing interest in the tours and activities segment.
In late-October 2017, Klook – the Hong Kong-based competitor to GetYourGuide – announced that it had completed a Series C round of investment worth nearly $60 million.
For his part, Reck says that the latest wave of investment is a sign of good things to come for GetYourGuide.
"I am extremely excited that GetYourGuide holds the key to opening the door to this new world in its hands: a massive inventory of unique travel activities and a global customer audience. Now it’s purely up to us to turn this vision into a reality that will change the way we travel for generations to come," he says.