Viatu, a Switzerland-based startup that provides a booking platform for multi-day, eco-friendly trips, has successfully raised $1 million in seed funding. Ndoto led the funding round, with the participation of ASI Reisen and angel investors, including Loic Amado. The company’s platform enables users to book lodging, experiences, and car rentals through a single platform, and its trip builder features live pricing and availability.
Viatu is committed to promoting non-traditional destinations by making information about those places more accessible. It specializes in offering trips to sub-Saharan African destinations, such as Botswana, Namibia, Rwanda, and South Africa. The platform includes various options for experiences, such as “eco-luxury” getaways in the Etosha National Park.
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The company places a strong emphasis on sustainable travel and aims to make it easier for its users in several ways. It only offers destinations that meet the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s destination criteria, and all of its service providers are scored using the Green Globe International Standard for Sustainable Tourism metrics. Viatu also tracks carbon calculations for all types of activities, including car rentals and hotel stays, enabling it to either make climate contributions or directly purchase relevant credits on behalf of its users, such as carbon credits from the Wonderbag climate project in South Africa.
In 2022, Viatu’s revenue quadrupled in comparison to its first year of operation. As the company enters its third year of operation, it aims to triple its revenue. The latest funding will go towards finalizing and improving the booking system.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard