eola, powering experience and activity providers, raises $2.8 million in investment

eola, the operating system for experience and activity providers, has closed a $2.8MM funding round led by Pentech Ventures, with participation from Techstars and a number of leaders in travel and technology.

eola provides cutting-edge operations technology to experience providers in the UK and beyond. From hiking tours in Scotland and watersports centres in Cornwall to hot air ballooning in New Zealand, eola equips them all with the tools they need to manage their entire business – simply and efficiently. By automating all bookings and payments processes, making scheduling and resource management easy, and providing features like memberships, vouchers and rentals, the eola system saves businesses valuable time and boosts their revenue every day.

During 2020, eola saw their business grow 5x while tripling their customer base. The value of automated processes, online accessibility, and real-time adaptability has proven essential during the changing conditions throughout the Covid pandemic. Using eola’s unique technology, their average partner doubled online bookings in 2020 from the previous year. eola is now anticipating accelerated growth in 2021 with the rise in market enthusiasm as the country is excited to return outdoors. With the ongoing surge in staycations, eola is well positioned to support an industry expecting a record high demand for experiences. The new fundraise will be used primarily on expanding their technology, team and commercial footprint.

Callum Hemsley, CEO of eola, says: 

We are delighted to have this group of investors onboard for the next stage of our journey. The success we have achieved to date is a real testament to the incredible tenacity and resilience of the team and our customers. Even through the most difficult times, they have been an absolute force of optimism and willpower. 2020 was a difficult year, but seeing how everyone responded was truly inspiring, and I can’t say how grateful I am to be on this journey with them all. Now, we are looking forward to helping ever more experience businesses thrive and grow together with us.

Sandy McKinnon, partner at Pentech Ventures, comments: 

The eola team has crafted an incredible platform which really is an operating system for running experience businesses. To have grown a company during lockdown in this market is incredible and speaks to the value they deliver to their customers. We are excited to back them and help them grow even faster.

Eamonn Carey, MD of Techstars London Accelerator, said: 

Building products people love is one of the best ways to create a huge, scalable, category-defining business. That’s precisely what Callum, Dan and the eola team have done. I’m consistently impressed by the feedback and referrals they get from their customers. More importantly, we can see the impact that eola is having on their businesses and their bottom lines. I’ve seen what’s in the pipeline, and I cannot wait to see how those customers and millions of others benefit from eola’s operating system.

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