Kenyan Tourism Startup Purple Elephant Ventures Raises USD 1 Mn Pre-Seed

A Kenya-based venture studio with a focus on tourism, Purple Elephant Ventures (PEV), has raised USD 1 Mn in pre-seed funding to build the next generation of startups that use technology to modernize the tourism sector. Investors participating in this round include Klister Credit Corp., The Untours Foundation, and a number of angel backers including Fede Pirzio-Biroli, founder of Playfair Capital; Ian McCaig, former CEO of lastminute.com and M-Kopa board member; Anthony Rock, president of Rock Impact Capital; Rich Hoops, executive director at Impact Capital; Jim Villanueva, managing director of Global Partnerships Social Venture Fund, and Helena Riese Harstad, co-founder and chair of the Optimizer Foundation.

Elephant Bookings is a B2B product that brings hospitality providers online, helping them to increase their occupancy rates by allowing direct bookings. The startup has launched two startups, Elephant Bookings, a software as a service (SaaS) product, and Nomad. Africa, a content-to-commerce magazine. The venture studio plans to build about four startups at the intersection of tourism, climate, and technology, every year.