Greek Travel Startup ‘Welcome Pickups’ Clinches Funding, Ready for Expansion

Greek travel startup Welcome Pickups has clinched seed funding to the tune of 1.65 million euros to be used to expand services, strengthen its central team and boost its network of destinations.

VentureFriends, Openfund and investor Melih Odemis have placed their bets on the Athens-based firm, which as the highest customer-rated travel brand surpassing Airbnb and Uber, aims to be the new standard for in-destination travel services. In addition to its traveler-focused products, Welcome also offers productivity and insight tools for BnB hosts and hoteliers.

“Welcome’s unique model has created a new travel category that encompasses all in-destination needs besides airfare and accommodation. We are very excited to be the first on a global level to offer this service and receive such a warm response from hundreds of thousands of travelers. We believe this funding round will further fuel our growth and destination coverage,” said Alexandros Trimis, CEO and co-founder of Welcome.

“At VentureFriends, we are very excited to support Welcome to achieve its ambitious goals and to establish itself globally. In just two years, the talented team has developed rapidly and managed to expand to five countries and 11 destinations, with a large part of its revenue coming from outside Greece. We firmly believe that Welcome will successfully face the next challenge to operate in 40 destinations by the end of 2018, creating a strong global travel brand,” said Apostolos Apostolakis, partner and co-founder of VentureFriends Fund.

Established in 2015, Welcome Pickups steps in the moment a traveler arrives to his destination, managing travel needs (transport, travel products, business suggestions, information) in a friendly and easy way. The company plans to cover six new destinations in four countries by the end of 2017 and service more than 1 million travelers in 2018.