UK company SkiYodl has launched a £750,000 fundraiser to finance expansion plans during the pandemic in readiness for the 2021 season.
Founded by Oli Dannatt and business partner Si Latarche the unique travel tech ski company allows large scale curated holidays specialising in providing the best local knowledge with a ‘trusted voice’.
Founder Oli Dannatt, was private ski instructor to Richard Branson and lived in Verbier for ten years before leaving to work as a shipbroker in London. His celebrity and high profile clients included Gianluca Vialli, Natalie Imbruglia, Jamie and Jooles Oliver, Dexter Fletcher, Claudia Schiffer, Clive Woodwood and Peter Gabrielle.
SkiYodl has a large community of in-resort specialists across twelve major ski destinations and 2,000 plus separate accommodation, offering instant knowledge so that travellers feel like experienced locals before they even arrive and can holiday like they live there. SkiYodl customers instantly get the knowledge that has taken the company years to learn.
The company is a marketplace of honest information so that customers can create holidays with the promise ‘trust us so that others trust you’ with ‘live bookings’ that suit the needs of the individual.
An easy to use platform offers customers information on the best accommodation, the best bars, the best night life, the best restaurants and much more. SkiYodl will also offer a unique app and pocket concierge which constantly gives real-time updates and advice on currents events such as the best bar to watch your favourite sports team, the best cocktail or the best pizza restaurant; its so good you’ll feel like you were born on the mountain.
The fundraiser will allow SkiYodl to become experts in more resorts and grow the biggest community around the world with whom they can share the best secrets the mountains have to offer. It will enable them to build its pocket concierge, a unique native app that gives customers real-time information from each resort. It will also allow The company to create a one-stop-shop for ski hire, ski lessons and lift passes and airport transfers taking the stress out of arrival.
SkiYodl brings technology into the ski travel space. The majority of existing ski travel companies do not offer real time booking and customers find the process slow and outdated. SkiYodl is using tech to allow customers to search and book what they are looking for in real time.
Everything is handpicked by our in-resort fixers. SkiYodl is passionate about bringing the very best of the mountains to their customers so they have honest and reliable information to build their trip. By combining leading technology and in-resort knowledge they have created the first large scale curated marketplace with live booking in the ski travel space
TV presenter Jake Humphrey has pledged his support and has already committed to investing in the crowdfund for the business.
Founder Oli Dannatt said: “In a world where you can book almost anything in a single tap, the ski travel market hasn’t kept up. There is a gap in the market for local, honest resort information available to live book.
“Ski Yodl is a technology led business and brings customers the ability to search and book their ski trip in real time. However, our real secret is in who we know. Our growing network of in-resort fixers bring our customers the very best resort discovery with absolutely no BS. In our first season we generated £350,000 in booking revenue and a gross margin in excess of 10% and already have 30,000 fans on social media.”
Si said: “We know that every great trip starts with great accommodation and that is where SkiYodl has been focused but with the crowd raise we aim to go so much further. This raise will enable us to realise our vision and be the largest curated marketplace and trusted voice of the ski industry.”
Jake said: “ I will be investing in SkiYodl’s crowd raise, I have been so impressed by what the company has already achieved. The team are second to none and the tech-centred business is looking at the ski market differently, realising it’s not fit for purpose and SkiYodl is doing something about that.”
Peter Foster– Seed Investor and Advisory Board Member – said: “I used Ski Yodl to organise my ski holiday and had the best trip I have ever had. The accommodation was exactly what we wanted and I had the information I was looking for to build an itinerary that suited my whole group – having invested in the business, it was great to experience the proposition working first hand.”