A travel company which harnesses the power of social media influencers has made its third acquisition.
Travel Seen was founded in 2021 by Jen Atkinson, the former CEO of ITC Travel Group, and received initial investment of £1.6m from Liverpool-based PE firm Arete Capital.
Last year the company received investment from Dez Derry, founder of Manchester customer acquisition specialist Blume.
Travel Seen has now acquired a majority stake in Manchester-based luxury tour operator, eShores.
It follows the 2023 acquisitions of luxury travel agent, Aquilium Club, and sports and experiences tour operator, Vedere.
The acquisition of eShores brings around £12m of turnover, taking the collective group to £20m.
Briony Fagan, investment director at Arete Capital, said: “The M&A strategy deployed leverages on existing relationships and trust with management teams; targeting companies with pent-up growth potential in off-market transactions.
“The nature of the deal sourcing offers fair valuations, allowing owner managed businesses to de-risk whilst continuing to work operationally in the business.
“Post deal they benefit from centralised services to professionalise the processes of owner managed business.”
Gavin Lapidus and Nadine Brown will remain at the helm of eShores post deal, retaining a meaningful equity stake, to ensure continuity of service to their loyal customer base.
eShores specialises in long haul multi centre trips which are dynamically packaged for customers to experience a tailor-made trip.
Lapidus said: “I am super proud of the journey and growth of eShores to where it is today, this investment represents an exciting new chapter in the continued growth of the business.”
Previous investments into Aquilium Club, a nationwide network of self-employed homeworkers known as ‘travel directors’, has seen an increase in sales through focusing on effective lead generation; having recently welcomed an experienced in-house recruiter.
Vedere Travel, led by Alex Catton, former head of Spectate, the sports division of ITC Travel, for eight years under Jen Atkinson, offers access to prestigious sporting events worldwide.
Vedere is on track to exceed their year one target by focusing on referrals from socials and curating tailored sporting and lifestyle experiences for high net worth clients and group sporting tours.
Travel Seen’s focus is on value creation once acquisition targets are onboarded; with value drivers in brand creation, operational excellence and lead generation.
Atkinson said: “We have searched for experienced, high growth travel businesses and eShores represents our third exceptional investment within the last 12 months.
“This next investment represents a step change in the scale and credibility of our growth and M&A mission.
“One of the most important factors when investing is the quality of the team and what Gavin and Nadine have built through a very difficult trading time is enviable.
“We are excited to welcome eShores into the Travel Seen family and look to continue making further investments as we grow, both organically and through further investment.”
Mike Fletcher, joint managing partner of Arete Capital, said: “Since our initial investment in Q3 2021, we have backed Jen’s vision to build a challenger brand in the Travel industry.
“Over the last 12 months, the business has deployed an M&A strategy which plays to Jen’s strengths and mirrors the success story of her previous experience scaling ITC Travel to a £90m total travel value (TTV) group prior to exiting.”
Travel Seen is a social first luxury travel group and aims to build the most authentic and engaged travel community in the UK.
Travel Seen will create inspiring and authentic travel content and deals, directing customers to book these via its curated network of travel companies.
Atkinson, who co-hosts ‘The Holiday That Changed My Life’ podcast with Chris Maguire, added: “The opportunity for building travel brands in the social space is huge. Other sectors such as fashion and beauty have been hugely disrupted by social media and we hope to lead the way similarly, in the travel sector.”
Sam Davies, deal advisory partner at Cowgills, advised on the transaction.
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He said: “Cowgills has been working with Travel Seen for a number of years now as a buyside advisor, and we’ve seen the business go from strength to strength.
“The acquisition of eShores will further enhance the Travel Seen group, as Jen Atkinson and the team continue to make strategic M&A choices to build their client offering and create a unique proposition in the market.”