The motorhomes industry could easily have a seat at the top table of independent travel - the "hotel on wheels" concept appeals across demographics and geographies.
Booking motorhomes online is emerging as part of the peer-to-peer/consumer-to-consumer trend. A few months ago, the world's largest online motorhome rental business, Motorhome Republic, became part of Australia's WebJet.
ShareACamper operates in the same field, and has picked up €2 million in startup funding to grow its business, which currently operates in Germany, Australia and New Zealand. It operates on a simple model of charging motorhome owners commission on any sales and travellers a booking fee.
Before the Q&A, here's a 60 second video pitch:
What problem does your business solve?
ShareACamper helps owners of motorhomes (RVs) to rent out their own vehicles, and makes more vehicles available for hire in the market.
For owners of vehicles, the typical utilisation of motorhomes is between 3 and 4 weeks a year. That means they are not used for 48 weeks a year.
Currently, owners cannot just rent them out, as normal insurance policies do not cover the scenario of ‘hire for reward’, and therefore the vehicles would not be protected.
But when owners list their vehicles on our website, our insurance partner provides a full comprehensive insurance for the vehicle, therefore owners can rent out their vehicles confidently, knowing that they are covered and that their own insurance premiums won’t be affected.
Seasonality is an issue for consumers as well as for the industry. During the summer holidays all the established rental companies have all of their fleet hired out, and they have unmet demand.
Allowing owners to rent out private RVs allows the supply of motorhomes to grow without the capital investment required.
Therefore, we also (to a lesser degree) solve the problem for travellers that otherwise would not have been able to rent a motorhome in the summer.
Names of founders, their management roles, and number of full-time paid staff?
Founders: Florian Dahlmann and Jan Bartel.
Florian Dahlmann is responsible for product development, online marketing and analytics.
Prior Experience: The Boston Consulting Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Jan Bartel is responsible for sales and marketing and investor relations.
Prior Experience: Theron Consulting (McKinsey spin off), and Unity Media
ShareACamper currently employs around 30 staff in offices located in Cologne, Germany; Sydney, Australia, and Christchurch, New Zealand
Funding arrangements?
ShareACamper has just received seed funding of approx €2 million.
Investors are:
- Two larger German companies from the RV industry
- Werkdigital, a Software Development Company
- Private Business Angels from the founders’ personal network
Revenue model?
ShareACamper is a commission-based model. We take a service fee from motorhome owners (which covers the insurance cost and then some)
We also take a booking fee from travellers
Why do you think the pain point you’re solving is painful enough that customers are willing to pay for your solution?
For owners - they don’t pay for our solution, but they earn money with us. The fee is deducted from the pay-outs. We have owners that have earned around €15,000 with a single vehicle in a single season – where otherwise the vehicle would have just gathered dust
For travellers, it is a familiar way for them to book a camper.
External validation?
We have mentors from Germany and New Zealand that work within the RV Industry and believe in our model. The core belief is that the caravanning industry is long overdue for digitalisation.
We have several hundred owners already on our website, and have processed camper bookings of around $500k so far (with very little to no advertising for travellers)
Both founders studied together at WHU, which is the German epicentre for startup founders - the founders of Rocket Internet, Zalando, and many more startups studied here. The WHU Network allows contacts to other startups and experienced and ‘tried and proven’ consultants.
Tnooz view:
Motorhomes are often unfairly seen in terms of the Spinal Tap tour bus or the Scooby Doo camper van. But the idea can appeal across demographics and geographies. From retired couples looking to explore closer to home to millennials festival-hopping across Europe, the appeal of a "hotel on wheels" is clear.
ShareACamper's model sees deceptively simple and it has the potential to operate in any source market where there is a supply of privately-owned motorhomes and a demand from travellers interested in hiring them.
Its provision of insurance for owners and travellers just adds to the simplicity.
The viability of ShareACamper as a business depends to an extent on the availability of inventory during peak periods - as the Q&A points out, most motorhomes are used by their owners during the popular travel times, which is when the demand is at its strongest. Squaring that particular circle is one challenge ahead.
So assuming it has the inventory, the customer acquisition question comes into play. ShareACamper is already curled up in the long-tail of travel, so its digital marketing efforts (and budget) will not have to compete with the Expedia Inc/Priceline Group pseudo-duopoly.
ShareACamper seems to have identified a niche and is executing on it already. But the simplicity of its proposition could also be its biggest challenge as the theory and practice seems quite easy to replicate.