goSTOPS Hospitality Pvt Ltd, a backpacker hostel brand, has raised $1 million (around Rs 7.5 crore) in bridge round from new and existing investors within six months of raising its pre-Series A funding in June, the company said in a statement.
The bridge round was raised from existing investors, Mumbai Angels Network, The Chennai Angels, Yuj Ventures, Lead Angels, 1Crowd and Indian Angel Network (IAN), the statement said. New angel investors including Rohit Chanana of Sarcha Advisors also invested in the round, it added.
The fresh funds will be used to acquire new budget hotels and grow its presence across the country. goSTOPS will raise its Series A round by June 2022, it said.
Pallavi Agarwal, Founder and CEO, goSTOPS said that the startup has grown 2.5x quarter-on- quarter to annual revenue rate (ARR) of $2.5 million in October 2021.
"The new bridge funding will allow us to leverage the opportunity presented to us in a post-pandemic India to grow to $5 million ARR by June 2022 -- that’s 5x year on year growth through a pandemic. We intend to cater to the exponentially growing market of youth travellers in India, who have stepped out to explore the country after a very stress-inducing two years of the pandemic," added Agarwal.
Co-founded by Agarwal and Pankaj Parwanda in 2014, goSTOPS has presence in tourist destinations like Agra, Alleppey, Amritsar, Bir, Dalhousie, New Delhi, Fort Kochi and Goa, among others. It is a full-stack operator brand that leases budget hotels and operates them as backpacker hostels. In 2021, goSTOPS launched goEXPERIENCES that offers trips by an expert with itineraries designed around their chosen activity, including cycling, trekking among others. goSTOPS is operating across 27 destinations in India and has hosted over 500,000 guests to date, the statement said.
In early November, backpacker hostel chain The Hosteller raised $1 million in a funding round led by FAO Ventures & CA Holding LLP.