News Blip:
Outdoorsy Receives Round 2 Funding
TechCrunch Reports On Why The Market For Renting An RV Is Thriving By Speaking With Jeff Cavins, CEO of Outdoorsy, On Their Current Investments & What's To Come.
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According to serial entrepreneur Jeff Cavins, more than 35 million people each year look to rent an RV — 38 percent of them so-called millennials. Yet they often walk away from the experience empty-handed. The reason, he says: There are fewer than 100,000 commercially owned vehicles available from traditional rental services. Cavins says that his San Francisco-based RV rental company, Outdoorsy, is beginning to address this issue by enabling owners of the 14 million privately owned RVs in the United States to rent them to users, but in a unique, yet matured, process. Think of it as the "Airbnb of RV rentals". We all know the Airbnb model has been around and successful for some time, but with standing homes. The vehicles are mostly sitting around collecting dust anyway, says Cavins, who co-founded the company in late 2014 after heading up seven previous companies — two of which were publicly traded. “Americans desperately want time off, but what happens is they’ll buy a camper van, they’ll use it year one, then use it again maybe one week that second year,” says Cavins. "In the meantime, it’s sitting in storage, with the owner often dealing with both a mortgage and insurance payment. By year three, people go back to the dealership and say, ‘We’re done,’ and the dealer says, ‘I’m sorry but that vehicle you paid $100,000 for three years ago is now worth $40,000.’"
According to TechCruchn writer Connie Loizos, Outdoorsy has a cross-promotional partnership, for example, with Kampgrounds of America, the network of campgrounds known as KOA, which has roughly 500 locations in North America. “They sell the dirt and space and Outdoorsy brings the hotel room,” says Cavins. Outdoorsy is also finding users through Facebook ads, via word of mouth, as well as through “emerging power sellers,” as Cavins calls them. The second round of funding for Outdoorsy, which now employs 50 people, was recently landed in a sizable amount of $25 million led by Aviva Ventures and Altos Ventures, with participation from Tandem Capital and Autotech Ventures. Even still, Outdoorsy has its challenges, of course. A look at some of the inventory Outdoorsy has revealed shows a lot of pick-up trucks, which would seem to stretch the definition of recreational vehicle, at least in the sense of people not preferring to sleep in one (or visit Outdoorsy expressly to rent one).
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