Freedome, an innovative startup and marketplace for outdoor experiences, closed a seed financing round with 600,000 euros raised that saw the entry of a string of strategic private investors alongside SocialFare Seed - impact investing fund and vehicle of SocialFare - and Bios Line Holding, parent company of Bios Line S.p.A. Freedome is also incubated in I3P, the Incubator of the Polytechnic University of Turin.
Among the aims of the operation: to accelerate growth in Italy, strengthen marketing strategies and consolidate the presence on the national territory, expanding the number of experiences offered and professional operators involved. This operation represents the second round of investment for the marketplace founded in Legnano (Milan) in 2019 by Michele Mezzanzanica, Manuel Siclari and Simone Ferlisi, and brings the company to 740,000 euros raised in the 2 years since its birth.
Freedome is a digital platform that selects, aggregates and makes outdoor experiences easily available throughout the Italian territory. With an offer of over 1,200 activities selected from more than 400 professional operators, it is the vertical outdoor service with the most comprehensive catalog in Italy: hot air balloon flights, paragliding launches, boat trips, horseback riding, rafting descents are just some of the many activities that you can book from your PC or smartphone. The goal of the company is to support small local realities, in which are currently employed about 3,000 workers.
The outdoor activities market in Italy includes 245 disciplines and involves almost 40 million people every year, both Italians and foreigners, generating a turnover of over one billion euros. This sector, despite its high growth potential, is however characterized by many inefficiencies, due to the fragmentation of the offer and a low level of digitization by operators. Freedome solves these inefficiencies by aggregating the best activities offered by the most professional operators, facilitating their comparison and accompanying users throughout the process, from the search for activities to the booking, guaranteeing the security of operations.
The team is currently composed of 8 people: next to the 3 founders work Federica Lauda, Content Manager; Davide Grimaldi, Account Manager; Michele Gervasio, Customer Service Manager; Gianluca Taccani, Digital Marketing, and Martina Donato, Customer Service Officer.
"The funding will allow us to further accelerate the expansion in the Italian market, strengthen marketing activities and consolidate our positioning through partnerships with strategic players. Having among our members authoritative and qualified investors confirms the validity of our strategy aimed at revolutionizing a sector still very traditional and fragmented as that of outdoor experiences," said Manuel Siclari, Founder of Freedome.
"This milestone also comes after a complex year for the outdoor activities sector, but the numbers we are recording are definitely positive: in June alone, the platform was visited by over 100,000 users and bookings were handled for over 2,000 people. July started even better, we recorded a peak of +30% of traffic and +100% of transactions compared to the first two weeks of the previous month. Repeated lockdowns made people rediscover the importance of being able to travel, explore, spend quality time with loved ones and have adventures in contact with nature. Outdoor experiences, carried out in small groups and far from big cities, are the ideal solution to respond to the widespread need for leisure and freedom, in compliance with all regulations," concluded Michele Mezzanzanica, co-founder of Freedome.
"Accelerating and investing in Freedome coherently supports the vision and action of SocialFare and SocialFare Seed, as it allows to respond to the demand of a market increasingly sensitive to a new and more sustainable relationship between people and nature. Accelerating Freedome means investing in supporting new leisure behaviors and outdoor experiences by supporting product/service innovation, youth entrepreneurship and scalable territorial economy. People, environment, innovation are fundamental pillars of development and Freedome declines them by making its own the intention to generate positive social, environmental and economic impact," said Laura Orestano, CEO of SocialFare and President of SocialFare Seed.
"The I3P incubator is proud to have supported the development path of Freedome, which sees an important milestone in the investment round just concluded. The new financial resources will contribute to Freedome's goal of bringing innovation and digitalization to key sectors such as tourism and sports," commented Giuseppe Scellato, President of I3P.
Press coverage
"Round da 600mila euro per Freedome, startup delle esperienze outdoor" - Fortune Italia
"Freedome, la startup delle esperienze outdoor, chiude un Round da 600.000 euro" - La Mia Finanza
"La startup Freedome chiude un round di investimenti da 600 mila euro" - TechBusiness