Venture Capital Legend Tim Draper Looks to Franchise Hostels
Skift Take
Startup Draper House, which is part of the billionaire investor's funding network, is the perfect embodiment of entrepreneurial tourism, a fast-growing sub sector that blends startup culture and venture capital with hospitality. Co-branding opportunities could help it expand rapidly.
Tim Draper, the venture capitalist who made his fortune through investments in early internet hits like Hotmail in the 1990s, is backing a new accommodation startup that has big ambitions.
Draper Startup House, the eponymous chain of 30 hostels across 25 countries that caters to both entrepreneurs and investors, offering them workshops, a digital community and funding opportunities, was founded in 2018 but took on the veteran investor’s name in late 2019 after the 64-year old billionaire reached out to founder Vikram Bharati.
Bharati, a former banker, originally called his business Tribe Theory, and now plans to scale the hostel network by using a franchise model. It's so far helped 35,000 companies around the world through its network, but he wants to ramp that up to a million by the end of the decade.
The Rise of Entrepreneurial TourismBharati said he developed the idea for Tribe Theory after traveling and spending time in hostels after leaving
