AN online platform that connects ski lovers and professional instructors in continental resorts has secured £3.1 million of investment to drive its growth ambitions.
Maison Sport, which has previously secured funding from Skyscanner co-founder Gareth Williams and Checkatrade owner Kevin Byrne, has won the fresh backing from a private investment firm and angel investors.
The company said it will use the investment to expand its reach by enhancing the capabilities of its technology. It is seeking to establish itself as the “go-to” platform for instructors and winter sports enthusiasts.
READ MORE: Major test looms for Yousaf's New Deal for Business
Maison Sport connects ski enthusiasts to around 1,300 qualified instructors in more than 400 resorts across France, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria.
Nick Robinson, co-founder and chief executive, said: “Our goal is to become the largest seller of snow sports activities worldwide within the next five years and this investment not only validates Maison Sport's mission to make snow sports accessible to everyone but also empowers us to scale our operations and bring more value to our end users, both the instructors and the holidaymakers.”
Maison Sport praised the contribution made by Mr Williams to the business, in particular his experience of building and scaling tech ventures.
READ MORE: Shipbuilding returns to Stornoway for first time in century
Mr Williams said: “I was attracted to the team’s infectious energy and enthusiasm and the huge potential for growth for Maison Sport. Leisure activities on holiday are frequently treated as a checkbox or filter on a website, but they are often the purpose of the travel.
“Now that so much technology exists for the basics, specialists are best placed to provide and facilitate the most meaningful time spent away. In the case of skiing, getting resort choice and ski instruction right can make all the difference between and good and a great holiday.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here