from DION HENRICK in Cape Town
Western Cape Bureau
CAPE TOWN, (CAJ News) – CONSERVIO, Africa’s leading booking platform for local getaways in nature, has raised $1 million in a second funding round.
Led by E4E Africa, the round includes further investment from Volve Capital, Living Hope Ventures and strategic angels, including seasoned African tech entrepreneur Jonathan Smith, who participated in the platform’s $500 000 pre-seed raise in March 2023.
The fundraising milestone supports Conservio’s broader vision to support responsible travel that contributes to environmental protection, cultural preservation, and economic growth.
“These goals reflect our passion for driving meaningful impact through travel,” said CEO and co-founder, Lara Dendy Young.
“We’re excited to build on our success and continue making it easy for travellers to discover, book and experience the beauty of nature while contributing to its preservation,” Young said.
Founded in 2020, Conservio channels revenue to properties that celebrate natural surroundings, protect habitats and inspire a deeper connection to the planet.
With over 500 accommodation venues across South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia, the platform addresses the challenges of difficulty, inefficiency, and distrust in existing booking platforms.
It provides awareness, demand and bookings across seasons and gives properties the opportunity to learn how to become more sustainable and benefit from that sustainability.
Conservio plans to use the funding to grow to over 2000 Southern African suppliers/properties in its portfolio, scale up its customer base, and cement its positioning as the go-to brand for nature-based travel.
E4E Africa is an entrepreneur-centric venture capital fund that backs African founders who solve the continent’s big questions. Volve Capital is an early-stage venture capital fund based in The Netherlands.
Bas Hochstenbach, E4E managing partner, said the organisation invested in ventures that foster sustainable growth on the African continent.
“We believe in Conservio’s vision to make booking nature-based travel more efficient and pleasant for the traveller, and to support contributions to quality job creation in rural communities and increased conservation income for Africa’s iconic nature,” said Hochstenbach.
– CAJ News