Travel Packages and Digital Tipping: Startups Raise $104 Million

The three startups on this week’s list represent modern takes on old ways of doing business in three sectors of tourism: package travel, timeshare and hospitality tipping.

In each of these areas, modernisation has been exceptionally slow, and the growth of the businesses in question shows that there is a need for this type of action.

Three startups announced this week that they have raised a combined total of more than $104 million in funding.

Exotica: $65.1 million

Exoticca, a platform selling multi-day travel packages, has raised $65.1 million (€60 million) in Series D funding.

Quadrille Capital led the round, with support from All Iron, ICF, 14W, Mangrove, Bonsai, Sabadell, and Aldea. The company raised its last funding round of $30 million in 2021.

Barcelona-based Exoticca said its technology provides connections to flights, hotels, meals, transfers, transportation and activities in one place. This allows the company to sell complex packages based on real-time pricing and availability, which it says reduces prices by 30% compared with booking different parts of a trip individually.

The platform offers over 70 destinations in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Colombia and Mexico.

“While the rest of the travel industry has gone digital, the multi-day tour space has remained stagnant, with customers stuck in inconsistent, time-consuming booking experiences. Exoticca’s mission is to bring multi-day tour packages into the digital age, making dream trips accessible and affordable for everyone,” said Pere Vallès, CEO of Exoticca, in a statement.

The funds will be used to enhance the platform with artificial intelligence, improve customer service, expand into new markets and acquire new customers.

The platform also includes a concierge application enabling monitoring and customer service of all products in the package.

Not a hotel: $35 million

Not a Hotel, a company that sells fractional ownership of vacation homes in Japan, has raised $35 million in Series B funding.

The startup operates by selling customers a portion of a vacation home, which translates into a set number of nights they can book at the property, from 30 nights to a full year. Customers can also book nights at other vacation homes in the portfolio. Reservations are made through an app.

The company forecasts sales of $650 million (100 billion yen) in the next two years.

Since it began operations four years ago, the company has signed contracts worth $148 million (22.7 billion yen), signed agreements with 597 clients and opened nine branches.

Grazzy: $4 million

Grazzy, a digital tipping software, has raised $4 million in its second round of funding.

Next Coast Ventures led the round, with support from AZ-VC, InRevenue Capital, Iron Skillet Partners, and Tuesday Capital. The company has raised its first seed round in 2023.

Texas-based Grazzy lets guests pay tips digitally by scanning a QR code that can be linked to an individual, team, room or floor. Employees receive their paychecks the same day, along with their tax information.

Grazzy has been approved for use in hotels across all four major brands: Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton and IHG. Hotels can integrate the product with their core technology systems.

“We’re addressing a serious labor shortage in the marketplace by offering a solution that can truly deliver more money, more often, to frontline workers,” said Russell Lemmer, founder and CEO of Grazzy, in a statement. “On the Grazzy platform, we’ve moved millions of dollars directly into the wallets of thousands of employees. And we’ve done it while saving our enterprise clients thousands of dollars per month in recruiting and retention costs.”

The startup said its customer base has increased 100-fold over the past 18 months.

The funds will be used for hiring, acquiring new customers, expanding partnerships and strengthening the product.

Business	Stage	Lead	To raise
Exoticism	D-Series	Capital Quadrille	$65.1 million
This is not a hotel	B-Series	Indefinite	$35 million
Grazzy	Seed	Next projects on the coast	4 million dollars

Skift Cheat Sheet

Seed Capital is money used to start a business, often run by business angel investors and friends or family.

Series A The funding is typically raised from venture capitalists. The round is intended to help startup founders make sure their product is something customers actually want to buy.

B-Series financing is mainly for venture capitalist firms helping the company grow faster. These rounds of fundraising can help recruit skilled workers and develop profitable marketing.

C Series financing usually involves helping a company expand, such as through acquisitions. In addition to VCs, hedge funds, investment banks, and private equity firms often participate.

Series D, E and beyond These are mostly mature businesses and a round of financing can help a company prepare for an IPO or acquisition. Different types of private investors can participate.