Peek bags $23 million fund, claims building "OpenTable for activities" model

Cathay Innovation is leading a $23 million funding round into U.S.-based tours and activities platform Peek.

Other investors in the Series B injection include Geoff Donaker (former COO of Yelp) and Paul English (Kayak co-founder and now CEO of Lola).

The latest investment brings the total raised by the company to $40 million, making it one of the larger backed players in the marketplace but still behind the likes of GetYourGuide and Klook, both of which have raised big in the past year with $75 million and $60 million, respectively, in late 2017.

Perhaps the most important part of the Peek funding announced this week is confirmation that it has inked a deal with Google.

Reserve With Google is a program to allow searchers to instantly book, in this case, activities directly through Google.

CEO Ruzwana Bashir tells PhocusWire that it is also talking with Yelp and other consumer-facing platforms to secure similar deals for distribution.

She says that the company has 10,000 bookable activities in the U.S. market and has achieved 100% growth year-on-year, processing "hundreds of millions of dollars" through the platform.

Peek emerged on the scene in 2012, picking up a number of small rounds before a double-barreled Series A in 2014 and 2016 to the tune of $15 million saw a range of high-profile backers including Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Google chairman Eric Schmidt come onboard.

Peek board member Pete Flint says: "Over the last five years the team has had a relentless focus to build the most innovative and comprehensive business solution in the industry, bringing many thousands of tour operators online.

"Now Peek is partnering with Reserve With Google, Yelp and others, to ensure millions more consumers can now have access to the largest selection of instantly bookable activities in the U.S."