The Danish startup Bownty collects deals from a total of 100 deal sites in Denmark, UK, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, France, and Portugal. Currently Bownty offers deals in approximately 1200 cities in Europe. In 2014, Bownty acquired its biggest competitor in Southern Europe, Yunait, which made the Danish deal aggregator Europe’s largest.
“When we founded Bownty, our ambition was to build a large, successful company that does for deals on local experiences, what momondo has done for the travel market. With the investment, we now have investors on board, all of which have helped to create some of the most successful companies with the same business model as ours. It’s incredibly valuable to our business,” says Steffen W. Frølund, founder and CEO of Bownty.
The Series A investment comes from the British investment fund HOWZAT Partners along with Denmark’s largest early stage venture fund SEED Capital and several business angels including Pia Vemmelund, Managing Director at momondo and Chairman of Bownty. Common to all investors are their expertise in building successful aggregators such as momondo, Trivago, and Cheapflights. Bownty raised its first investment in early 2012. It came from SEED Capital, which invested in the dealplatform again in 2013 along with Accelerace Invest.
Sascha Hausmann from HOWZAT Partners, who will also become board member at Bownty: “We were attracted by Bownty’s impressive organic growth and track record of successful acquisitions so far. The team has clearly demonstrated a great understanding of how to scale and grow a truly global business. We are excited to support the team now with their international expansion strategy and look forward to seeing increased brand awareness of Bownty in the coming months.”
With the investment, Bownty is now able to continue its aggressive growth and pursue new opportunities for growing the business further. Since January 2015, the 4 year old company has more than doubled the number of employees in the Copenhagen based HQ.
