I recently saw an equity crowdfunding campaign at Wefunder that caught my eye. It was an opportunity to invest in Yonder, a Montana-based nature tourism booking platform that only started accepting reservations in March after 18 months of development.
The interest in this particular investment opportunity is personal.
A few years ago, my wife and I rented a vacation property through one of the big rental sites. To be honest, I can’t remember which one. All I know is that after one night at what was arguably one of the finest tree houses the two of us had ever seen before, we hightailed it back to Toronto, eager to get as far away from our rental hosts as possible.
The experience was, in a word, abysmal.
However, despite the poor experience, we are determined to stay in a treehouse someday that not only is beautiful to look at, but actually allows us to unplug from our fast-paced life in the city.
Yonder’s Stewards Deliver
Well, Yonder.com has spent almost $4 million dollars over the past 18 months to build from the ground up, a booking platform that can meet the needs of the sites’ 3,500 Yonder Stewards and their visitors. These Stewards have been hand-selected by Yonder Scouts to deliver on the company’s promise of “quality, life-enriching stays, and experiences.”
Stewards qualify to list their properties on the platform by practicing responsible use of natural resources, providing exceptional hospitality and offering enriching, nature-based activities.
One of Yonder’s Stewards is Kevin Mooney, who runs The Mohicans Treehouses in Glenmount, Ohio. Mooney originally bought the property as a retreat from Cleveland, where he lived with his family. Using local craftsmen, Mooney built an easy-going vacation property with nine treehouses, four cabins, and two houses.
All I can say is I wish I had known about Mooney’s resort when my wife and I were looking for a peaceful getaway. It looks awesome.
Now multiply this experience by 3,500, and you start to get an idea of how special Yonder can be. And that brings me to the investment opportunity.
Two Years in the Making
As I said earlier, founders Tim Southwell and Freyr Thor have already spent a considerable amount of time and money getting Yonder to the stage where it was ready to take flight.
“I’m pleased to announce that starting today, Yonder is taking flight. Under Freyr’s leadership, and a team with a shared passion for the natural world and the healing powers it bestows, we built and created a truly authentic platform experience,” Southwell wrote in his March 4 blog post.
“Yonder is a catalyst for creating a harmonious world by connecting people to nature. Whether farm, ranch, vineyard, or other nature-rich destination, both Stewards and families are now poised to aid and learn from each other. Yonder’s purpose is to nurture the kinship between people, plants, animals, and all living things.”
None of this would have happened if in 2012, Southwell and his wife, Sarah, hadn’t bought an 80-acre farm in Southwest Montana, where they hosted “farm stays” for people interested in getting educated about farming while being closer to nature.
The Southwell’s realized that traditional booking sites and online travel agencies couldn’t properly sell their farm-stay story.
“In the years we spent researching and understanding the Agri and Eco-Tourism market, we’ve concluded that the market as a whole is unsophisticated and very fragmented. No single player has more than a 5% market share and 89% of the market is currently unconsolidated,” Yonder stated in an email to me.
“Yet prospective Agri and Eco-Tourism Stewards (hosts) exist everywhere, and they’re frustrated by the lack of focused attention on other platforms. What we found is they are all looking for a home — a devoted platform, a market leader.”
And so, the seed was born.
Why Invest in Yonder
Yonder’s equity crowdfunding campaign is looking to raise between $250,000 and $1.07 million, the maximum allowable in any 12-month period. As I write this on July 27, Yonder’s raised $140,477, an average of $1,756 per investor. The campaign remains open through October 2.
While Yonder got off to a slow start in March and April, the platform’s been on fire ever since. In June, it was seeing four or five bookings a day. The platform gets $16 in fees for every $100 in bookings with the hosts paying $4 of those fees and the guests $12.
Like Airbnb, it’s a volume business. The more Stewards it brings on board, the more opportunities it will have to generate booking fees. Needless to say, it’s going to take several years to generate economies of scale.
If you’re expecting to get rich quick, Yonder isn’t the investment for you. Having said that, Airbnb’s been at this game since August 2008, and it’s now said to be worth anywhere between $18 billion and $31 billion.
Seriously, though, the best reason to consider an investment in Yonder has to do with the world of travel post-Covid-19.
“Amid the pandemic news, the Yonder booking platform remains a bright spot. What tomorrow’s travel looks like, as outlined in The New York Times Future of Travel report, closely resembles what Yonder offers—uncrowded getaways accessible by car, lesser-known outdoor destinations and activities, and the support of local economies,” Yonder told me in an email.
“New Yonder stays and activities within the United States are being added to the platform every day and 80% of the listings are within a four hour ‘road trip’ of major metropolitan areas, like the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City.”
People aren’t going to be traveling as far afield for the remainder of 2020 and likely well into 2021. According to Yonder’s research, the service addressable market (SAM) for agri-eco tourism accommodation is $8 billion. It intends to gain 8.75% market share over the next five years.
I can’t tell you whether Yonder will meet its goal for growth over the next five years but I can say that it won’t be because it didn’t offer an excellent product and service.
I wouldn’t bet the farm on Yonder, but it’s focusing on agri-eco tourism sets it apart from the Airbnbs of the world, and that’s a very good thing.
Will Ashworth has written about investments full-time since 2008. Publications where he’s appeared include InvestorPlace, The Motley Fool Canada, Investopedia, Kiplinger, and several others in both the U.S. and Canada. He particularly enjoys creating model portfolios that stand the test of time. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the time of this writing Will Ashworth did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
