Airbnb Leads $58M Series C in WeRoad's US Expansion

Jan de Vries · 2026-05-27

Italian adventure travel company WeRoad just closed a massive $58 million Series C round. The funding will fuel its first major push beyond Europe, bringing its community-driven travel model to the US market. Airbnb led the round, with existing investors like H14 (the lead in WeRoad's 2023 Series B) also joining in. This brings the total amount WeRoad has raised to a cool $100 million. "In a world increasingly shaped by AI and social media, genuine human connection is becoming both rarer and more valuable," said Paolo De Nadai, WeRoad's founder. "At WeRoad, we've built our entire product around enabling real-world connections through shared travel experiences. People today are not just looking to visit new places, they're looking to belong." ### The Bigger Picture: A Surge in Travel Tech Funding WeRoad's Series C doesn't exist in a vacuum. A 2026 analysis of the travel, hospitality, and experience-economy space shows a flurry of funding activity across Europe. Here are some of the most notable comparators: - **Smartness** (Italy) raised $55 million in Series B to expand its TravelTech and hotel operational software across Europe. - **Profitize** (Italy) secured $1.6 million in Seed funding to scale its AI-powered financial planning platform for hospitality. - **Vuelo** (London) raised $75 million in Seed funding to build an AI-native travel booking, financing, and planning platform. - **Mews** (Amsterdam) closed a $300 million Series D to invest further in AI, automation, payments, and agent-driven workflows for hospitality operations. - **Happyhotel** (Germany) raised $7.6 million in Series A funding to develop AI agents for hotel revenue management. - **Altek AI** (Oslo) secured $500k in pre-Seed funding to expand autonomous guest communication for hotels across the Nordics and Europe. Together, these 2026 comparators account for over $440 million in disclosed funding. That's a clear signal that investors are betting big on travel booking, hospitality operations, and tech-enabled real-world experiences. "Expanding into the US is a milestone we've been working towards for years," adds Paolo. "And having Airbnb alongside us is both a strong validation of what we've built and a powerful signal of the opportunity ahead." ### WeRoad's Secret Sauce: The IRL Economy Founded in 2017, WeRoad is now one of the fastest-growing travel operators in Europe. Its secret? A massive network of over 4,000 Coordinators who help facilitate trips. To date, they've helped more than 300,000 travelers explore over 1,000 itineraries. The numbers speak for themselves: around 60% of customers rebook year-on-year, and a third of all bookings come from word of mouth. WeRoad positions itself as a pioneer of the "IRL economy" (In Real Life). The idea is simple: millennials and Gen Z are hungry for connections that can only happen offline. They're increasingly willing to spend money to find those connections. The IRL economy is a direct response to widespread loneliness. Studies show that young people are among the groups most affected by the loneliness epidemic, with roughly 30% of young adults reporting feeling lonely every day. ### From Travel to Community: The WeMeet Platform In 2025, WeRoad expanded beyond travel by launching WeMeet. It's a platform for local, curated social gatherings—think day hikes, after-work drinks and dinner, sporting events, and yoga sessions. These events are open to anyone, not just WeRoad travelers. And it's working. In 2025 alone, more than 50,000 people across 35 cities attended 2,000 WeMeet events. The official WeMeet app was downloaded 150,000 times. ### What's Next: WeRoad's US Rollout WeMeet events will be central to WeRoad's US expansion. The company plans to lead with its digital platform and online marketing capabilities, using targeted campaigns and strategic partnerships to identify its strongest markets. From there, WeRoad will deploy the full community playbook it has refined across Europe and build a homegrown network of American coordinators. The goal is to establish a real, lasting presence in the US—and with Airbnb's backing, they've got a solid head start.