Skift Take
We've yet to see the same level of excitement for local tours, activities, and events startups from consumers as we did from investors over the last few years. SideTour's unnamed purchase price is likely low, but it's also likely a sigh of relief for its investors and employees.
Daily Deals giant Groupon has purchased its second travel-related company in as many weeks. First it was last-minute hotel booking service Blink, and today it’s tours and activities company SideTour.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. SideTour will work underneath the Groupon Live team which focuses on events as opposed to daily deals with local merchants.
In and email to users, SideTour CEO Vipin Goyal said, “Now as part of the Groupon family, we’ll be able to bring more SideTour hosts and experiences to more people, in more cities, much faster than our small team could ever have imagined. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to grow a business and a community that we’re all extremely passionate about.”
New York-based SideTour launched in August 2011 and had raised $2.5 million in March of this year, which it added to a previous Series A round of $1.5 million.
It has not been an easy road for SideTour and its tours and activities peers. Investors, once buouyed by the belief that tours and activities was the next big thing, have cooled on the sector‘s prospects over the last year as consumers have not shared the same level of enthusiasm.
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Our daily coverage of the global travel industry. Written by editors and analysts from across Skift’s brands.
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