Seattle camper rental service Cabana lands $3M to expand fleet – GeekWire

Seattle-dependent Cabana is fueling up on income to assistance growing desire, asserting Thursday that it landed $3 million to strengthen production of its luxurious vacation vans.

“We booked over 8,000 nights in 2022 and have by now started booking out considerably into 2023,” CEO and co-founder Scott Kubly instructed GeekWire. “This earlier summer season, we ended up completely booked just about every weekend and just about all weekdays. For each and every one particular guest we served, we had a guest that was unable to uncover an out there van.”

Kubly, a previous Seattle Office of Transportation head and Lime exec, introduced Cabana in the summertime of 2020. The startup allows campers hire custom made-crafted cargo van built for vacation. Its Ford Transit vans contain beds, storage, bogs, and net. Prospects can hire the vans by using the Cabana app, which also permits prospects to lock and unlock the vehicles.

Cabana currently has a fleet of 50 vans and aims to improve to 150 by the close of 2023. The startup also declared programs to deploy new van products and expand into new markets. Cabana at the moment operates in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angelas, and it will start in Austin, Texas, early following thirty day period.

Inspite of the recent progress, there has been some bumps in the road. The Omicron wave and high gasoline rates put a dent on desire, Kubly mentioned, though offer chain and labor shortages previously slowed van manufacturing. However, sales recovered with the return of gatherings and festivals, he added, though soaring airfare prices and pilot shortages also propped up product sales from locals.

“We have identified that for just about every headwind, we have found a tailwind,” he explained.

The spherical was led by Chicago-dependent TechNexus Undertaking Collaborative. Prior backers involve Craft Ventures, Goldcrest Capital, Chicken CEO Travis VanderZanden and previous Ford X President Sunny Madra. Cabana did not supply an up to date valuation, but Kubly claimed that it has improved considering that its final funding spherical in 2021.