VizEat, Wingit and More in Travel Startup Funding This Week

Each week we create a roundup of travel startups that have received or announced funding that week. The total amount raised this week among companies we tracked was $14.2 million.

Here are three companies that announced they raised funding this week. You can see previous roundups here.

>Away Luggage raised an $8.5 million Series A round from new investors Global Founders Capital and Barry Sternlicht, founder of Starwood Hotels, and several existing investors including Forerunner Ventures, Accel Partners and Comcast Ventures. The company has raised $11 million since its founding in February 2015.

Away’s suitcases cost less than $300 and are made from a lightweight yet durable polycarbonate with four smooth spinner wheels. The suitcases have a patent pending interior laundry bag and compression system that helps travelers fit more items in their suitcases. Away has a three-month-old concept store in New York’s Noho neighborhood and plans to open more stores in Los Angeles, London and Berlin this year.

>>VizEat raised a $4.2 million Series B round by existing investor Eurovestech and several undisclosed new investors and this is the London-based startup’s first funding round.

VizEat is a social dining mobile app in Europe connecting travelers and local hosts around authentic culinary experiences such as meals, cooking classes and food tours. It has about 20,000 hosts in 100 countries available on its app. It’s also acquired local meal booking app Cookening since it was founded in 2014.

>>Wingit raised a $1.5 million Series B round from an undisclosed investor and the Paris-based startup has raised about $7.4 million since it was founded in 2013. Wingit is a multichannel, real-time and geo-located event recommendation service mobile app. It’s available in more than 100 cities in the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific. Travelers can also chat with the app’s Facebook Messenger bot that helps find interesting hangouts or events in cities.