Airbnb spearheads a $58 million Series C funding round in WeRoad and appoints its CEO to oversee hotel operations.

      The Milan-based group-travel platform WeRoad has secured a $58 million Series C funding round, with Airbnb taking a 10% equity stake and a position on the board. Andrea D’Amico, who has served as CEO since 2022, is set to leave WeRoad to lead Airbnb's hotels division. This funding round was reported by TechCrunch and Skift on Wednesday.

      The investment structure is somewhat atypical for Airbnb, which typically expands its Experiences and tours business organically rather than through equity investments in specialized operators. By investing in WeRoad and appointing its CEO, Airbnb achieves a closer integration, gaining a minority stake in the group-tour sector and acquiring a seasoned leader with 20 years of experience at Booking.com in the hotel industry to guide its hotel initiatives. D’Amico had previously worked at Booking.com for 18 years, overseeing significant portions of its hotel operations across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

      WeRoad’s funding round indicates one of the more evident success stories in European travel technology. The company specializes in multi-day organized tours led by a curated selection of tour guides, primarily targeting millennials and younger travelers—a demographic that traditional tour operators have often struggled to engage.

      WeRoad raised €18 million in a Series B round at the end of 2023 and has seen steady growth since then; the recent $58 million boost raises its total funding to approximately $85-90 million, with the Series C explicitly designated for expansion into the US market.

      Entering the US market is the more challenging aspect of WeRoad’s strategy. The European group-adventure-travel segment has been growing thanks to millennials' willingness to invest in structured social travel; while there is a similar sector in the US, it is more competitive with established players such as Intrepid, G Adventures, and the various tour options available through Expedia and Airbnb Experiences.

      WeRoad's advantage lies in its proprietary tour-guide platform and the brand traction it has gained on Instagram and TikTok. However, the US market dynamics, especially regarding customer acquisition costs, pose significant challenges.

      The strategic aspect of the deal for Airbnb is particularly noteworthy. The platform has been attempting to diversify beyond short-term rentals for several years, with mixed results in the Experiences arena and facing more significant challenges in expanding into the hotel-equivalent sector.

      Bringing on an experienced operator from Booking.com and investing in a rapidly expanding group-travel platform suggests that Airbnb is now willing to invest substantial capital to expedite this transition instead of relying solely on product development experiments.

      The valuation indicated by Airbnb’s $58 million investment for a 10% stake suggests a post-money valuation of around $580 million, signaling a 4-5x increase from WeRoad’s estimated Series B valuation of $120-150 million at the end of 2023. This represents a significant, though not unprecedented, increase for a profitable and growing European travel tech company in the current funding landscape.

      WeRoad has not yet publicly announced its new chief executive. The search for a board member is reportedly underway, with an internal candidate likely to assume the role temporarily. The Series C funding is anticipated to support US launch operations for the next 18 months.