GetYourGuide has raised nearly $500 million from investors led by SoftBank’s Saudi Arabia-backed Vision Fund FRANKFURT: Berlin travel startup GetYourGuide said on Thursday it had raised nearly $500 million from investors led by SoftBank’s Saudi Arabia-backed Vision Fund to expand its online offering of tours and activities that has won a following among millennials. GetYourGuide, which has sold 25 million tickets since it was founded a decade ago, wants to invest some proceeds from the so-called Series E funding round into its “Originals” branded product that it launched last August. The company’s booking platform runs on a similar model to the one pioneered by ride hailing company Uber, connecting tourists with travel “experiences” in exchange for a commission. CEO and co-founder Johannes Reck estimates the market to be worth $150 billion, and with no player controlling a share of more than 2 percent, and four out of five bookings being made offline, he sees huge room for growth. “We aim to capture the lion’s share of the market, then help it grow and mature further by placing experiences at the center of the travel-planning journey,” Reck told Reuters in an email interview. The equity investment by the Vision Fund, the world’s largest venture fund, is only its second in Germany — and in mainland Europe — after it backed used-car trading platform Auto1, also based in Berlin, in January 2018. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund earlier pledged a $45 billion investment in Softbank’s $100 billion Vision Fund. The fund’s existing investments include those in ride-hailing pioneer Uber, chip designer ARM and shared workspace firm WeWork. SoftBank was joined in the $484 million GetYourGuide funding round by Temasek, Lakestar and Heartcore Capital. Earlier backers including Swisscanto Invest also contributed, GetYourGuide said.