Triptrotting, a startup that connects travelers with hosts, has raised $1 million in a Series A round of funding.
The company’s website promises that users will be “not just another clueless tourist.” The idea is that when you’re traveling to new places, it’s almost always better if you have a local friend, so Triptrotting tries to connect travelers with locals at their destination. If you’re a host, that can involve letting someone stay with you, or it can be more limited, like taking them on a tour or just meeting them for a meal. Co-founder Shana Zheng (who has in fact played Triptrotting host to TechCrunch office manager Greg Barto) says one of the most important parts of the service is its matching algorithm, which was developed in consultation with former eHarmony chief scientist Galen Buckwalter.
Even though hosting is more about cultural exchange, not moneymaking, hosts can ask to be paid tips for specific services, like picking someone up at the airport.
Obviously, safety can be a concern when you’re meeting up with strangers (or staying with them). The Triptrotting FAQ makes it clear that it’s ultimately up to “your decision and judgment,” but the company says it tries to verify that members are who they say they are. Hosts and travelers are also asked to review each other after a trip. And Zheng says Tripspotting avoided safety issues when it started out by working with universities and professional organizations.
The company isn’t revealing its member numbers, but Zheng tells me that Triptrotting now has a presence in more than 2,000 cities and 150 countries. She attributes much of that growth to Triptrotting’s “ambassadors”, who sometimes promote the site through large events that can draw hundreds or thousands of attendees (a typical event will attract expatriates, international journalists, students, and more, Zheng says).
Investors include Google Ventures, Mark Suster of GRP Partners and Launchpad LA, Dave McClure of 500 Startups, Bill Gross of Idealab, Safa Rashtchy, and Eric Chen. Triptrotting has now raised a total of $1.3 million.
Triptrotting is a community of travelers and locals who are matched based on similar interests. It enables people to travel like a local by finding authentic activities and like-minded locals anywhere in the world. With the help and expertise of Galen Buckwalter (former Chief Scientist at eHarmony), Triptrotting’s community includes functions that help match travelers and local hosts based on compatibility, measuring dimensions ranging from personality to professional interests. Whether it’s meeting for a meal or a tour...
Google Ventures is the financially motivated venture capital arm of Google Inc., founded in 2009. Google Ventures invests in startups in industries including consumer Internet, software, hardware, clean-tech, bio-tech, health care and others. They aim to invest about $100 million a year, with deal sizes ranging from seed to late-stage investments of tens of millions of dollars, depending on the stage of the opportunity and the company’s need for capital. Google Ventures currently invests in the U.S. and has offices in...
Mark joined GRP Partners in 2007 after having worked with GRP for nearly 8 years as a two-time entrepreneur. Most recently Mark was Vice President, Product Management at Salesforce.com (NASDAQ: CRM) following its acquisition of Koral,where Mark was Founder and CEO. Prior to Koral, Mark was Founder and CEO of BuildOnline, the largest independent global content collaboration company focused on the engineering and construction sectors, which was acquired by SWORD Group (PARIS: SWP). Earlier in his career, Mark spent...
Dave McClure is a venture capitalist & the founding general partner at 500 Startups, an internet seed fund and startup accelerator program in Mountain View, CA. Dave has been geeking out in Silicon Valley for over twenty years, and has worked with companies such as PayPal, Mint, Founders Fund, Facebook, LinkedIn, SlideShare, Twilio, Simply Hired, O’Reilly Media, Intel, & Microsoft. He also likes to play ultimate frisbee when his knees don’t hurt. Dave has been an investor in over 100...
Bill Gross is a lifelong entrepreneur and proponent of solar power. While still in college, Mr. Gross founded Solar Devices, a firm that sold plans and kits for solar energy products. As the CEO of the technology incubator Idealab, Mr. Gross has founded several extremely successful companies, including Overture (acquired by Yahoo!), CarsDirect, and Picasa (acquired by Google). Idealab recently moved into the renewable energy market with Energy Innovations, a sister company to eSolar that focuses on the retail...
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