Seattle-based travel-tech startup, Cabana recently announced that it has raised $3.5mn in seed funding round. The fundraiser was led by Craft Ventures, a San Francisco-based early-stage investing firm.
The funding round also saw participation from Goldcrest Capital, Travis VanderZanden, CEO & Founder at Bird, and Sunny Madra, Vice President Ford X at Ford Motor Company. The company aims to reinvent how people travel through its customized fleet of campervans.
The company was established in 2019 by a former Lime executive, and Seattle transportation official Scott Kubly. Scott currently serves as the Cabana’s Chief Executive Officer.
Explaining the business model, Scott said,”We have built mobile hotel rooms that are designed around the traveler to provide both comfortable and customized accommodation and transport. Trips and vacations are inclusive of two key elements – the travel to the destination and the destination itself. We are tightly integrating the two by providing travelers both a comfortable mobile hotel room and unique experience that meets their needs.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a new reality and amplified the public’s uncertainty about what future travel looks like. As people have become acquainted with the comforts of home and togetherness with their loved ones and families, Cabana aims at extending that experience to people’s ability to enjoy a weekend adventure, while still practicing appropriate social distancing. Cabana has also established a detailed regimen to ensure that every van is adequately sanitized between guests for optimal cleanliness.
“Ideas that utilize existing infrastructure and satisfy a previously unseen or emerging consumer need are often the genesis of companies that can establish and lead a new industry,” said Travis VanderZanden, founder and CEO of Bird.
“Cabana fits squarely within this theory and provides travelers a new way to experience and explore destinations that might not otherwise have been available to them while also avoiding carbon-emitting flights,” he added.
This round of funding is driving Cabana’s manufacturing efforts so it can scale its operations, and offer its services to more people looking for modern travel alternatives – the company’s fleet of luxe campervans was first offered to people in the Seattle area in the fall of 2019 and has plans to launch in new markets later this year.
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