Sweden: Camping travel tech platform Acamp, which connects campers with landowners, has acquired camping community app Ställpatser, a matter of weeks after raising €2.5 million in funding to accelerate its growth and expansion into new markets, such as Norway and Denmark.
Launched in 2020 with the idea to solve frustrations related to the booking of traditional campsites, Acamp wants to expand its camping community and expand into new markets so that more unused land can be rented out to campers.
The marketplace says that it intends to “enable a simple and compelling way for campers to book a unique and sustainable place to camp with a local landowner”, making it easier for camping enthusiasts to explore and book places to camp.
The purchase marks the latest milestone in Acamp’s development as it seeks to position itself as a European market leader in the camping market. The company will gain access to Ställpatser’s community of hosts and camper users, which already stands at more than 100,000 active users across the continent.
Acamp co-founder Öjje Holt told EU-startups.com: “The acquisition of Ställplatser gives us a great historic data set of destinations and user behaviour, and its the perfect step to now introduce us to the whole Nordic market, and to continue our journey towards all of Europe.”
Ställplatser founder Magnus Grönbek told the same publication: “I was very happy to be contacted by Acamp, and since they were able to show a very solid preparatory work, analyses and a plan for the future, it feels completely safe to now leave my app to them. I’m super excited to follow Acamp’s journey!”
Holt continued: “We are not just offering traditional camping sites to stay at either, but also the more exclusive and unique spots that haven’t been available before. Acamp is more than facilitating the accommodation, and we will be more than a marketplace for life experiences – becoming a new global model for sustainable tourism.
“We look forward to being able to unite the best of the two worlds that we see Acamp and Ställplatser represent. We aim high and we aim for Europe, but the first focus now is to establish ourselves together with Ställplatser as the given camping marketplace in the Nordic region for 2022,” he added.
