France: Toploc, a nature-based vacation rental booking platform, has announced that it has closed its first funding round, amounting to €450,000.
The funding is a capital raise from existing shareholders, with support from public sector investment bank BPI France, as well as bank borrowing and an interest-free loan from Réseau Entreprendre Haute-Savoie.
The funding will accelerate the platform’s development, helping Toploc in its mission to simplify group holidays in nature and consolidate its position in the segment.
Toploc will also use the investment to:
- Develop digitally advanced tools, notably leveraging artificial intelligence [AI] to optimise searches and personalise recommendations
- Make group trips simple to organise, responding to the specific needs of travellers, the size of accommodations, layouts, or adapted activities
- Reinforce its regional footprint with a new office opening in Lyon this month – it will be the company’s second office as it is currently based in Annecy
- Create jobs and sustain growth after trebling its reservations last year – Toploc is projecting to exceed €2 million in sales this year
- Achieve profitability by the end of 2025
Established in 2022, Toploc was founded with a mission to place humans and nature at the centre of its holidays, connecting travellers with unique places and passionate hosts who are eager to share their own stories of their respective areas.
Each Toploc location is selected according to rigorous criteria, in order to guarantee a total immersion for guests in the heart of nature and in local traditions. These criteria include the quality of accommodations, host engagement, the natural environment and ecological impact.
Serving groups of four people or more, Toploc offers travellers the opportunity to book nature stays by the seaside, in the mountains and in the countryside. It has an average of eight to 15 travellers per reservation.
Last June, Toploc announced a strategic partnership with German vacation rental booking portal Holidu in a bid to “further support vacation rental owners with a platform that will enable them to increase their bookings and simplify renting out their vacation homes”.
