We’re delighted to announce our latest investment in the fastest growing online travel agent in the UK, loveholidays.
loveholidays, the short-haul beach holiday provider headquartered in London, was founded by Alex Francis and Jonny Marsh in 2012 and is now a team of 140. loveholidays allows customers to create bespoke holidays through ‘discovery search’ inspiring customers to filter by the attributes that matter to them, rather than requiring them to start with where and when. loveholidays are the 6th largest ATOL holder.
Our investment will be used to fuel further growth through customer acquisition and driving repeat booking rates. We will also explore new markets and product extension opportunities alongside the management team.
UK holiday spending is growing, with outbound travel maintaining a c.70% share of total spend, and online dynamic packaged holidays accounting for £3bn of holiday spend in 2017.
We are experienced investors in the travel sector, having backed Enigma Travel, On the Beach and Travel Jigsaw as well as current investees Sykes Cottages and Direct Ferries. This is our latest investment from the £660m Livingbridge 6 fund.
Commenting on the investment, Alex Francis, CEO at loveholidays, said:
“When choosing a partner to help grow our business, Livingbridge was the obvious choice, given their clear entrepreneurial and cultural fit plus their longstanding track record of backing other high growth online travel companies. We look forward to working with them and growing the business over the coming years.”
Daniel Smith, Partner at Livingbridge, said:
“Having known Alex and his team for years, we’re thrilled to be partnering with them. With an experienced and ambitious management team, best-in-class technology platform and a disruptive customer proposition, loveholidays is an incredibly exciting travel business with a fantastic future ahead.”
