Bandwango Experiences Significant Growth Despite Pandemic Challenges

Contrary to expectations, Bandwango, a company serving tourism bureaus, experienced substantial growth in 2020. CEO Monir Parikh reported a doubling of their customer base, increasing from 75 to 200 clients over the past year.

The Destination Experience Engine

Bandwango has developed a platform known as the Destination Experience Engine. This system is specifically designed to facilitate connections between local businesses and their communities.

The platform aggregates offers from a diverse range of establishments – including restaurants, retail stores, wineries, breweries, and state parks – into attractive package deals.

Examples of these packages include the Newport Beach Dine Pass and the Travel Iowa State Passport, which are then marketed and sold through tourism bureaus.

Shifting Focus to Local Tourism

While the pandemic significantly impacted the tourism industry, it prompted many organizations to prioritize initiatives aimed at encouraging local support for businesses and attractions.

Parikh anticipates that even after the pandemic subsides, tourism bureaus will recognize the ongoing importance of “local-focused tourism.” He emphasizes that residents serve as valuable ambassadors and represent the most effective organic marketing channel.

Demonstrating Economic Impact

Increasingly stringent privacy regulations are making it more difficult for tourism bureaus to gather data on online visitors.

This presents a challenge in demonstrating economic impact to their funders.

Consequently, bureaus are increasingly taking on the direct sale of deals, rather than simply advertising them and linking to external purchase sites, as a means of proving their value.

Seed Funding and Future Plans

Driven by last year’s growth, Bandwango secured $3.1 million in seed funding.

This funding round was led by Next Frontier Capital, with participation from Kickstart, Signal Peak Ventures, SaaS Ventures, and Ocean Azul Partners.

Previously, the startup had raised $700,000 in funding.

From Full-Service to Self-Serve

Until recently, Bandwango operated primarily as a full-service provider.

The company’s strength lies in leveraging the existing relationships that tourism bureaus have with local businesses.

Bandwango streamlines the process of coordinating deals with numerous businesses and facilitating their acceptance in-store.

“We function as your back office,” Parikh stated.

The new funding will enable the development of a self-service product, designed for ease of use by individuals with varying levels of technical expertise.

The goal is to empower anyone – from a novice user to a tech-savvy teenager – to create local savings programs or themed trails independently, without requiring assistance.

Expanding Distribution Channels

Currently, Bandwango focuses on providing white-label solutions to its clients.

However, Parikh indicated plans to broaden deal distribution by introducing its own “private label brands” in the future.