Mapo Tapo, the startup that connects outdoor sports enthusiasts by organising sports trips around the world, has closed a €1.15m seed round. The operation, which combines equity, grant and debt instruments, sees the entry of important institutional investors into the company, which had already raised a pre-seed round of €355,000 with the contribution of international business angels and B4i Bocconi for Innovation. Thanks to the new capital raised, Mapo Tapo wants to accelerate the growth of travellers registered on the platform and further develop its technology to support local sports guides.
Mapo Tapo is an innovative start-up founded in late 2020, co-founded and led by Daniele Calvo Pollino. The founding team also includes Alessia Fontanari, Antonio Cambise chief product officer and go-to-market, and Alfredo Lanzetta chief technology officer (pictured). The mapotapo.com platform allows outdoor sports enthusiasts to book trips with certified guides and find adventure companions to share them with.
The funding round was made possible thanks to the support of the Argo acceleration programme, the traveltech accelerator of the CDP Venture Capital network promoted with the Ministry of Tourism and managed by Zest (which is also co-investor) together with VeniSia and supported by corporate partners Intesa Sanpaolo and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, Human Company, and Scuola Italiana dell’Ospitalità.
After having selected Mapo Tapo in the first batch of the acceleration path, Argo continued to support the company’s growth with a follow-on of EUR 200,000 in a total round of EUR 750,000, also underwritten by Banca Finint, with the advisory of the Doorway platform, Encelado Ventures and a number of business angels.
In addition to the EUR 750,000 raised in equity, there is the Smart and Start funding from Invitalia and further contributions from the Ministry of Tourism, which supported Mapo Tapo in both the validation and start-up phases of development, with an overall competition in the round worth EUR 400,000.
‘The Italian ecosystem, although sometimes complex, offers numerous opportunities for raising finance,’ says Calvo Pollino, CEO of Mapo Tapo, in a note. ‘Combining different sources of financing can result in an ideal strategy, reducing dilution; an alternative to the classic American model, based on simpler instruments but higher valuations. CDP Venture Capital, Zest and MiTur were key partners, not only financially, but also strategically and operationally. They helped validate our business model and refine our internal processes. Thanks to their support, we have placed at the centre of our value proposition the professionalism of certified local guides, a distinctive element in the Italian and international travel tech scene’.
The round was also an opportunity to expand the panel of stakeholders and advisors through the Encelado vehicle. Other new advisors and investors include Martino Bagini investor and ex-COO of Docebo, and the renewed confidence of existing advisors such as Giuseppe Cavallaro, Yves Warnant, and William P. Keenan.
Mapo Tapo continues to pursue the goal of maximising value for local sports guides and outdoor enthusiasts. Calvo Pollino adds: “Although the goal has remained the same, the last three years have been a real rollercoaster: we have tested different business models and believe the current one is a winner. The real challenge now is to climb it.”
To date, Mapo Tapo has organised trips for over 1,500 people from 40 countries, with a Trustpilot rating of 4.7 out of over 300 verified reviews. Internationality has always been part of the startup’s DNA: 60% of sales come from abroad, a percentage that is constantly growing.
Mapo Tapo’s goal is to accelerate growth, aiming for a 3-fold increase in travellers in the next 12 months. “Our strength is our community of 100,000 outdoor enthusiasts from all over the world. It is exciting to bring sportsmen and women from the US, UK, Northern Europe and even Kuwait and Costa Rica to places like the Sicilian hinterland or other hidden gems. The challenge is to develop a technology product that allows local guides to reach out to outdoor sports enthusiasts in a capillary and personalised way. We want to offer something scalable, tailor-made for sports guides and relevant for travellers, while keeping the community at the centre,” says the CEO.
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