Online tour operator Journee has landed £1.75 in seed funding for its mystery trip service.
The investment in the London-based company was led by Fuel Ventures, with Simon Beckerman, founder of online fashion site Depop, and Depop CEO Maria Raga providing angel investment.
Founded in 2019 by former Depep employees, Journee matches travelers with "mystery" trips by collecting their preferences around budget, dates, location and experiences.
When the match is made, the online service manages the booking process for travelers and informs them where they are going once they reach the airport.
Journee claims its technology can reduce the time to plan a trip from between 10 and 30 hours to 15 minutes.
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With the seed funding, the company plans to attract new customers as well as add to its destination list.
Ed Tribe, co-founder of Journee, says: “Our daily lives are so busy with too many things on our to-do lists. The process of booking a trip can be tedious and by the time you’ve decided on the destination and found the flights and hotel, most people are out of steam. Planning exciting things to do while you are away falls to the wayside. We have created a way to make it unbelievably easy to book an adventure you never knew you needed.”
Raga adds: “We were lucky to get to know [the co-founders] while they were at Depop and were impressed with their entrepreneurial spirit. They have a vision to make the world a better place by expanding people’s capacity to explore new cultures and have incredible travel experiences.”