An online luxury travel and holidays platform with ambitions to expand its US presence has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise more than £1 million.
London-based Mr and Mrs Smith is hoping to raise the money from members and investors through equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.
The business was launched 15 years ago by husband-and-wife team James and Tamara Lohan to revolutionise the travel industry by combining data-driven technology with curated and personalised experiences.
It currently boasts 1.5 million members in more than 100 countries and revenues of more than £10.6 million.
The capital raised from the crowdfunding round will be used to “unlock new growth ambitions” and accelerate the development of the company’s fast-growing US market.
It will also establish Mr & Mrs Smith SideStories, a new part of the company focused on providing members with “highly original cultural experiences”.
“We founded Mr & Mrs Smith because we were fed up of chintzy, old-fashioned luxury hotels and wanted people to experience a new breed of style-savvy, personality-led boutique hotels,” James said.
“Around that passion we have built a travel business that values quality curation, a seamless delivery of bookings, and experiences that will last a lifetime.
“This crowdfunding campaign reflects our commitment to stay at the forefront of the luxury travel industry and involve the community that has supported us over the last 15 years.”
Tamara added: “We want to inspire our members to discover extraordinary places with the people they love, and we’re hugely proud of the fact we have over 1.5 million members across the world.
“That’s why we want to invite investors and our members to buy a share of the company and help us reach our full potential.”
Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube, described Mr & Mrs Smith as “an iconic British brand” and an “entrepreneurial success story”.