Milan, 23 September 2024 - Mapo Tapo, the start-up that connects outdoor sports enthusiasts by organising sport-related trips around the world, just closed a 1.15 million euro seed round. This operation combining equity, grants and debt instruments saw the involvement of important institutional investors in the company after having already raised 355,000 euro in a pre-seed round (with the contribution of international Business Angels and B4i Bocconi for Innovation). With 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 established in late 2020, co-founded and led by Daniele Calvo Pollino (ex-Amazon). The founding team also includes Alessia Fontanari (ex-McKinsey, Doctolib), Antonio Cambise (Chief Product Officer and Go-to-Market), and Alfredo Lanzetta (Chief Technology Officer). The mapotapo.com platform allows outdoor sports enthusiasts to book trips with certified guides and find fellow adventurers 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 (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 process, Argo continued to support the company's growth with a follow-on of 200,000 euro in a round totalling 750,000 euro, also underwritten by Banca Finint, with the advisory of the Doorway platform, Encelado Ventures and some Business Angels.

In addition to this 750,000 euro raised in equity, there is the Smart and Start financing 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 contribution to the round worth 400,000 euro.

"While sometimes complex, the Italian ecosystem offers numerous opportunities for raising funds”, said Daniele Calvo Pollino, CEO of Mapo Tapo. "Combining different funding sources can result in an ideal strategy, reducing dilution. It’s 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 put the professionalism of certified local guides – a distinctive feature of the Italian and international travel tech scene – at the centre of our value proposition".

The round was also an opportunity to expand the panel of stakeholders and advisors through the Enceladus vehicle. Other new advisors and investors include Martino Bagini (investor and ex-COO of Docebo), and the continued confidence of current advisors such as Giuseppe Cavallaro (formerly at McKinsey), Yves Warnant (serial entrepreneur) and William P. Keenan (Business Angel and ex-professional investor).

Mapo Tapo continues to pursue the goal of maximising value for local sports guides and outdoor enthusiasts. Daniele Calvo Pollino added that "While the focus has remained the same, the last three years have been a real roller coaster. But we’ve tested different business models and believe that the current one is a winner. The real challenge now is to scale it up".

To date, Mapo Tapo has organised trips for over 1,500 people from 40 countries, with a Trustpilot rating of 4.7 based on more than 300 verified reviews. An international character has always been part of the start-up's DNA: 60% of sales come from abroad, a percentage that is constantly growing.

Mapo Tapo's goal is to accelerate its growth, aiming for a three-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's exciting to take 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 technological product that enables local guides to reach out to outdoor sports enthusiasts in a widespread yet personalised manner. We want to offer something scalable, tailor-made for sports guides and relevant for travellers, while maintaining the primary focus on the community”, concluded Daniele Calvo Pollino.

The expansion of the offer continues with a wide range of experiences: from climbing trips in Europe to over 100 hiking, ski mountaineering, high mountain, snowshoeing and freeride skiing experiences worldwide.