Booking beach chairs for your summer vacation or a spontaneous day trip quickly and easily online? Until recently, this was not possible, but the startup Strandbutler offers exactly this service via its platform. With this business model, it was able to convince a number of business angels to invest a total of around 1.2 million euros in a seed financing round.
Experienced founders are behind Strand & Mehr GmbH, which was launched in 2021 and operates the Strandbutler brand. Bernhard Sourdeau has already gained startup experience at the fintech payever and the gastronomy marketplace Ritual, Christian Henk adds know-how from the fields of e-commerce and real estate, and CTO Jens Hinrichs has also spent many years in the digital economy.
Beach chairs can now be rented via Strandbutler at more than 50 locations on the North and Baltic Seas, from Juist in the west to Sylt and Fehmarn to Usedom in the east. More than 12,000 bookings have already been received via website and app in the 2022 season. In the future, this number could increase significantly, as the money is to be used to expand the team, further develop the platform, and provide additional services. Vacationers can already use the app to order food and drinks from local restaurants at certain locations from their beach chair.
Beach chair rental companies - often municipalities on the North Sea, but more private companies on the Baltic Sea - could also benefit from the service. The uncomplicated booking procedure ensures them more sales. Strandbutler also takes care of the payment process and customer care. There is still plenty of growth potential. There are at least 400 providers on German coasts and vacations in Germany are becoming increasingly popular.
