An online travel company promoted by influencers and celebrities such as Amanda Holden, Nicole Scherzinger and Peter Andre is looking to grow after passing its six-figure crowdfunding target.
Altrincham-headquartered Trending Travel has raised more than its £300,000 Crowdcube target with over 20 days of its campaign still to run.
The company has so far secured the backing of more than 160 investors and said it is valued at £4m.
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Launched in 2020, the company sells package holidays with a focus on sending celebrities and influencers along to endorse the destinations.
Trending Travel says it uses influencer marketing to turn 'likes' into bookings and has more than 257,000 followers on Instagram.
According to its Crowdcube page, the company will use the additional funding to make "key hires" as well as "vastly improving" its customer user experience.
It added: "Social media is a trillion pound industry. We aim to harness the power of social media by turning likes, follows and engagement into holiday bookings by collaborating with influencers, celebrities, and content creators.
"We believe travel marketing is filled with bland and uninspiring content, failing to create a compelling call to action.
"Our research indicates that hotels, airlines and destinations struggle to track ROI on influencer activity.
"Our solution offers trackable campaigns, verified statistics, and valuable data analysis."
Since the company was launched, it has made £2.5m in travel bookings and posted a revenue of £763,000 and loss of £329,000 in 2021.
It added: "Our goal is to develop a strategy to increase media sales through the promotion of hotels, airlines & destinations. We believe these areas are receptive to influencer marketing and our demographic of 18-40 year social media consumers..
"We also aim to create influencer ambassador roles, allowing us to grow a following around key demographics to help build brand loyalty.
"We are crowdfunding to invest into key roles - marketing, sales and UX technology aimed at finessing the online booking process and help achieve our goals."
The business is led by chief executive Keith Herman and co-founder Sophie Foster.
