Booking site Vipio raises €4 million investment

Investment and development company NOM is putting 4 million into fast-growing Assen-based online booking platform Vipio. Unlike other booking platforms, the offer on Vipio consists only of special overnight stays and unique holidays.

Since its launch in 2020, more than 100,000 people have already travelled through Vipio. With the capital raised, Vipio aims to further improve its platform and accelerate its international growth. Vipio is therefore looking for new employees, such as software developers, online marketers and sales staff. 

One of the founders of Vipio is René Schoenmakers, co-founder and long-time CEO of well-known auction platform Catawiki. NOM was also an early investor in Catawiki in 2010. When sold in 2020, it resulted in the highest return NOM ever made on an investment. 

Schoenmakers: "After Catawiki, I was eager to start something new again. The best phase of a company is the initial phase, where everything can still go either way. That keeps pulling me in. I happened to be looking with my son for really special accommodation for a weekend away together. Eventually, with much effort, I found something on a campsite website and thought that a specialised platform could have helped me here. Thus, Vipio was born.

"If you look for something special on other platforms, you often spend hours struggling through the standard offerings. You can't see the wood for the trees because there are more than 15 million holiday accommodations worldwide. Our mission is to select the really special ones. For example, we have just added Freddie Mercury's former holiday home. Our selection team approaches such special places themselves. We also receive many spontaneous applications from B&Bs, campsites and boutique hotels, many of which we unfortunately have to reject because they are not special enough," says Mark Borgman, co-founder and CMO of Vipio. 

NOM is pleased with the investment in Vipio. Investment manager Marco de Jong says: "We are obviously investing in Vipio because René and his team have a good track record, but mainly because we see that Vipio is responding to a strongly growing segment of travellers who want something special and want to be helped to do so."

About Vipio 

Vipio is a booking platform for special overnight stays and holidays. The platform launched in 2020. Since then, it has grown rapidly and has accommodations across Europe booked by an international audience. Vipio is based in Assen. 

About NOM 

NOM is an investment and development company that offers tailored financing and advice to innovative entrepreneurs who want to grow or establish themselves in the northern Netherlands. At NOM, entrepreneurs are helped with money, connections and knowledge. Entrepreneurs take centre stage. The services are independent, low-threshold and creative. They contribute to the growth of entrepreneurs and thus strengthen the northern economy in a sustainable way.