Travello, a travel social network, has raised $5 million in a Series A investment round.
The investment comes from Flight Centre co-founder Jim Goldburg, Andrew McEvoy, former boss of Tourism Australia, and Phil Gunter, who previously headed up Virgin Australia’s Velocity program.
Travello plans to use the investment to drive further growth and take advantage of the post-pandemic demand from millennials for travel experiences.
The platform says it has 1.2 million users and is expanding the online travel agency element of its business.
Travello acquired Backpacker Deals, an online youth market specialist, late last year.
Ryan Hanly, co-founder and CEO at Travello, says the company is already seeing huge demand from the youth market.
“Travello is uniquely positioned in the market - our ecosystem and media assets are a powerful combination. We are reaching over 80 million people across our channels each month and this funding will allow us to expand aggressively and capture the travel resurgence over the next 18 months.”
Gunter says the company has what it takes to scale “quickly and globally.”
“With a large and engaged community, an effective activities booking engine to deliver value to members and the business, and an innovative rewards program to fuel the whole system, Travello has the trifecta,” he says.
The company previously announced it had raised about $3.7 million in 2018.