SA国际传媒

Airbnb led Atlas Obscura鈥檚 recently-announced Series B round, which netted the media and events company $20 million in fresh financing, and a new distribution partner for its curated experiences and guided group trips.

Travel On The Obscure Side

Despite itself, the world is a weird and wonderful place, full of nooks, crannies, hideaways, and local secrets just waiting to be explored. For those with the cash and professional flexibility to travel frequently and experience all that鈥檚 on offer, congratulations. For the rest of us, exploring the world from a big comfortable couch (or stolen moments at one鈥檚 desk at work) suffices.

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Reading travel sites is not just about a little escapist, vicarious living. It鈥檚 also how a lot of folks (your correspondent included) discover the experiences to fill the fantastical trips on an ever-growing bucket list.

Take where I live as an example. Though hardly a 鈥渇antastical鈥� destination, Chicago is a lovely city that鈥檚 best experienced any time that isn鈥檛 the dead of winter, unless you鈥檙e into pain.

Where are you going to go after you鈥檝e taken your selfie at Cloud Gate (aka 鈥渢he bean鈥�), ridden on the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier, and eaten a Chicago-style hot dog replete with nuclear-green pickle relish and sport peppers? You could check out the or the , or take a spin down , or see the trading room of the old , or take yourself and your smoked fish aficionado friends down to . There are lots of options off the beaten path, and at least one company has quite literally made a name for itself by mapping the more obscure places to visit in places around the world.

is not your parent鈥檚 travel guide. Founded in 2009, what started as a project by writer and documentarian to document, catalog, and map the lesser-traveled and obscure parts of the world has evolved into a full-fledged media and events company. Now led by former Slate journalist and editor , the company鈥檚 offerings include its main travel and experience blog, a food-focused publication called Gastro Obscura, a series of 鈥渓ocal experiences,鈥� and guided group trips around the world.

Given the latter-mentioned aspects of Atlas Obscura business, it might not be a surprise that a travel company like is interested in a partnership. The home rental and accommodations booking giant鈥攚hich also features a curated collection of experiences and recently launched of its own鈥攍ed Atlas Obscura鈥檚 . Although the round was announced this week, indicate that the majority of the capital was closed back in June.

Other investors in the round include television conglomerate (which owns A&E, The History Channel, and Lifetime, among other properties) and , according to a statement provided to SA国际传媒 News. An SEC filing shows that New Atlantic Ventures through a special purpose vehicle.

Atlas Obscura鈥檚 Series B transaction brings the company鈥檚 total capital raised , according to SA国际传媒 data. The company says it now has 7 million monthly unique visitors, a network of 630,000 contributors, and has sold over one million copies of its books.

As part of the terms of the transaction, Atlas Obscrua鈥檚 local experiences and guided trips to its own site. In its statement, Atlas Obscura says its trips are kept intentionally small, typically topping out at a dozen travelers, and are typically priced at $1,300 to $5,000, depending on the trip鈥檚 destination and duration. Its local experiences are 鈥渦sually limited to 10 guests or fewer, and typically cost $20-$60 per person.鈥�

Airbnb And Corporate (Ad)venturing

Like many of the billion-dollar private companies barreling toward IPOs (or recently out the gate), Airbnb has made a number of investments into startups which align with its long-term strategy. It鈥檚 a case of the venture-backed becoming the venture backer.

Atlas Obscura鈥檚 might be the most recent investment deal struck by Airbnb, but it鈥檚 not the largest.

Airbnb鈥檚 investments seem to be part of a consistent strategy aimed at increasing inventory supply in its own network, and diversifying into other markets. And, here, 鈥渙ther markets鈥� is used both in the sense of markets outside Airbnb鈥檚 U.S. stronghold, but also into other types of service offerings.

As the company from municipalities鈥攃iting rising housing prices for locals as aspiring nano-hoteliers buy up inventory to turn around as short-term vacation rentals鈥攁nd landlords miffed about tenant rate arbitraging, Airbnb is expanding its revenue streams beyond the prototypical back bedroom and short-term apartment rentals. Its corporate venturing is a manifestation of that strategy.

Take Airbnb鈥檚 leadership in massive from this past April as an example. The San Francisco-based company works directly with landlords and owners of multi-unit buildings to convert apartment spaces into what it calls 鈥渃reative suites,鈥� nominally catering to business travelers.

According to on travel news site , listing exclusivity was likely discussed but not settled on in the final deal terms. Though Lyric will continue to list its short-term rental inventory on a number of platforms, Lyric co-founder and president told Skift that 鈥淸g]oing forward, we鈥檒l have more to share here. Some things might be exclusive, some may not, but Airbnb has always wanted Lyric to grow as an independent company.鈥�

Elsewhere in the interview, Fraiman indicated that he and his co-founder, , have known Airbnb鈥檚 founders for years. 鈥淲e spent a lot of time with [the Airbnb] team developing and sharing our vision for where we thought the ecosystem was going, and to identify what would ultimately matter most to guests and how to do it in a regulatory compliant fashion,鈥� Fraiman told Skift.

In regards to the deal it bears mentioning that Airbnb led but a small portion of a much larger Series E round raised by the low-cost Indian hotel and travel operator. Airbnb took in the venture as part of OYO鈥檚 $1.275 billion , which unspooled over the course of . Although it鈥檚 a relatively small chunk of OYO, valued at around $5 billion, post-money, its equity stake acts as a foothold in India, which alongside China is , according to a report by Airbnb from February.

Casual users of Airbnb鈥檚 services might not realize that the company has expanded beyond just accommodations and activities like cooking classes or walking tours. It genuinely seems like they want to be an end-to-end travel experience booking platform. And restaurants are, if you鈥檒l forgive the pun, part of the local flavor. Leading restaurant table-booking service 鈥檚 $43 million in January 2017 bought Airbnb the ability to list restaurants and facilitate booking on its site, facilitated through .

Airbnb鈥檚 corporate investments in startups mirror aspects of its acquisition strategy. The company for a $400 million and , according to SA国际传媒 data. As Airbnb encroaches on more legacy travel booking services, it鈥檚 trying to create network effects in other verticals outside its core short-term, largely peer-to-peer rental marketplace. And when it comes to aggregating additional services and inventory through partnerships, money talks. It鈥檒l be interesting to see which other areas Airbnb invests in before (and after) its IPO.

There鈥檚 general consensus that Airbnb will go public within the next twelve to fifteen months.

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