Investor Perspective: Why is VC in Travel so Tough?

When it comes to sexy startup ideas, the travel sector usually ranks at the head of the class. Nearly everyone travels, and thus can relate to the pain points that stem from the challenges inherent in an industry driven by legacy tech platforms, fragmented data, and unsophisticated business models. It’s an industry desperate for disruption.

Even so, travel startups tend to get the side-eye from most VCs — despite spawning two of the most disruptive startups in the past decade in Uber and AirBnB. What is it about travel that makes it so tough for startups to get VC funding? Are there alternatives to VC worth exploring, or should we look for ways to repositioning travel startups to make them more enticing for VC investment?

In this episode, we chat with Chris Hemmeter, Managing Director of Thayer Ventures, the leading venture firm focused on travel, transportation and hospitality innovation, to get his perspective on why venture is challenging for travel startups, what he’s most intrigued by, and his advice for founders in the sector as they build and scale their companies.

• Being thesis-driven vs. opportunistic
• The role of the strategic LP
• Are travel startups “VC-able”? Or do they need a re-brand?
• Is corporate venture a viable path in lieu of institutional VC?
• How do you create “alpha”, the value-add superpowers you bring that other VCs can’t match?
• Is venture capital the right answer? If not, what is?
• What’s exciting on the travel tech investor horizon?

Follows:

Travel Tech Insider podcast
Gilad Berenstein - host
Cara Whitehill - host
Chris Hemmeter - guest

Go Deeper:

Travel Startups: Disruption From Within? McKinsey

So many great Travel Tech startups with so few Venture Rounds Gilad Berenstein, LinkedIN

Do You Need Venture Capital? PhocusWire

Top Travel VCs on Opportunities and Challenges for Innovation, Fundraising PhocusWire

The Travel and Mobility Tech Sector Attractiveness Report Lufthansa Innovation Hub and TNMT