Headout, a last-minute mobile-only marketplace for travellers to book tours, activities and experiences available in the next 24 hours, has secured a $1.8 million worth seed round from Version One Ventures, 500 Startups, Nexus Venture Partners, Arena Ventures and numerous other investors.
Angellist’s Maiden Lane Ventures, Funders Club, Haystack Fund, Ludlow Ventures, Dreamit Ventures and renowned angels including Rick Marini, Fabrice Grinda, Kunal Bahl & Rohit Bansal and Neeraj Arora also participated in the seed funding round.
The company, headquartered in India and focused towards the US market, is planning to expand rapidly in 12 cities across US by the end of this year. It is also planning to grow its team in New York, San Francisco and Bangalore. Currently, the app is available in New York and Las Vegas.
Headout was founded in July 2014 by Varun Khona, Suren Sultania and Vikram Jit Singh. It helps travellers discover & book tours, activities, events & local experiences in town at reasonable prices. What sets Headout apart, is that it offers affordable prices for last minute tour packages, something which is generally pretty expensive if you book it through your regular travel websites.
The company was a part of 500 Startups accelerator batch in Mountain View. Its app is currently available for iOS and Android.
Varun Khona, Co-founder and CEO of Headout, said,
Our mission at Headout is to be the go-to app whenever you find yourself in a new city – be it New York, Paris, Cape Town or Beijing. This round of funding is a step in that direction to make Headout an ubiquitous brand that brings the best a city has to offer right now to a traveler right at their fingertips.
Varun also claims that there is no such service built for travellers who are already in the destination and are looking at indulging in activities on-demand. The real competition, he thinks, would be offline channels like tour brochures, tourist information centers, scalpers, concierge desks & walk-ins.
