Cultural travel marketplace Not In The Guidebooks has secured a £150,000 investment from Jenson Funding Partners as part of an ongoing funding round.  The sustainable tourism company wants to replace the generic offerings sold by larger tour operators, often led by people who haven’t even visited a destination before, by connecting holidaymakers with genuine local experts.

Not In The Guidebooks was launched by Carol Savage. She sought to ensure her three sons experienced the most of overseas culture, from customs and cuisine to places and people, during family travels when they were younger. The goal was for them to truly connect with the places they visited by meeting the locals and learning about their traditions, while experiencing activities unique to the places they visited. Carol believes the more understanding people have of other nations, the more chance there is of fighting intolerance and racism, which ultimately inspired Not In The Guidebooks.

Not In The Guidebooks aims to help people have memorable experiences during their travels, even if it’s just one day out of their time away that they want to do something distinctive to the area. The company achieves this by ensuring all trips are aligned to its three core pillars, which include:

(1) Local: All featured trips, food or accommodation should be found through locally sourced suppliers to enhance the business benefit to those in the community alongside increased authenticity for tourists.

(2) Sustainable: Focused on four of the UN’s 17 SDGs, including supporting local communities; fighting climate change, such as reducing the use of single use plastics; driving diversity & inclusion; respecting animal welfare.

(3) Experiential: Building immersive memories for customers, whether that’s hiking with llamas or making food with a makeshift underground oven, believing in the importance of connecting to people.

With the new investment from Jenson Funding Partners, Not In The Guidebooks hopes to bring in key hires and bolster the rich travel background the team has even further, also enhancing the technology to create better communications between hosts and travellers. With the full investment round, Carol is looking to expand the product inventory to provide more choice of experiences, while driving brand awareness and customer acquisition.

Carol Savage, CEO and founder at Not In The Guidebooks, says: “My experience of travel, personally and professionally, has historically been like buying an album in a record store – it’s a fixed item and you get what you’re given. With Not In The Guidebooks, it’s more like Spotify and you can customise your itinerary like a playlist –  you choose how much activity you want in your holiday. Having a supportive partner like Jenson backing us has been fundamental in executing our vision and we’re hopeful that more like-minded investors will join this round as we disrupt the travel landscape for the better.”

Sarah Barber, CEO at Jenson Funding Partners, adds: “This is the third time we’ve invested in Not In The Guidebooks, which is really a testament to what an innovative concept Carol and the team have built. It’s truly rare to see a travel business with purpose as central to the proposition as profit and, as a business focused on inclusivity ourselves, it’s a pleasure to be a part of their journey.”

ENDS

About Jenson Funding Partners LLP

Jenson Funding Partners is the approachable startup investment firm specialising in working with founders throughout their early-stage growth – from pre-seed to Series A. Its diverse and experienced team understands what a business needs at each stage and combines quickly deployed capital with hands-on support to successfully scale the companies in their portfolio and deliver returns for investors. Jenson Funding Partners have launched five SEIS and four EIS Funds.

We are now on our 13th tranche and have invested more than £18.5 million in over 110 entrepreneurial UK businesses which have typically launched their product or service and are typically close to or post-revenue. In addition, we have supported 25 follow-on funding rounds, all at a premium to initial launch cost based on external valuations. Jenson Funding Partners LLP is the Fund Manager of the Jenson SEIS and EIS Funds and is authorised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’) and its FCA registration number is 820516.

About Not In The Guidebooks

Not In The Guidebooks is creating the world’s most accessible marketplace for premium, private local experiences, selling to both the trade and directly to consumers. The business works with local partners to create the very best collection of authentic experiences, short itineraries and experiential holidays that are sustainable and support local communities, and wildlife. Not In The Guidebooks has been established by a small team of dedicated experts who are driven to find the best things for you to do on your holiday.