There were a few eyebrows raised when Mercia Ventures invested in a ski travel business in June – especially when the investment was led by two people who have never actually been skiing. But Jan Oosthuizen and Adam Watts are incredibly excited to be partnering with Marcus, Alexander and the entire Heidi team on their growth journey.
Founders, Marcus and Alexander, have been skiing from a young age, and went skiing every day after school in Norway, so they have had firsthand experience of the benefits of being in the mountains. After university, they both gained valuable experience in the travel sector during which they couldn’t understand, when it came to ski holidays, why it was so difficult to book a flexible holiday to meet the needs of customers and their busy lives. Then, after thinking they might be able to fix this problem themselves, Heidi was born.
People
Business is a team sport, and the one thing that was clear from the outset when Marcus and Alexander decided to start their business, was that it was built around culture and team. From the humble beginnings of Heidi in Marcus’s loft, to navigating the challenges of COVID, when they not only survived, but came out stronger post-pandemic, Mercia was impressed with Marcus and Alexander’s resilience. The business has now grown to over 50 people, and Heidi continues to keep the customer at its core, ensuring that as many people as possible get to enjoy the mountains as Marcus and Alexander did as children.
It was immediately apparent that all of the parties involved in Heidi (Billy from Active partners, Sarah Doyle, Miles Hill and Mike Rivis) were incredibly excited to work together to help Heidi achieve it’s potential. Even though there was a plethora of different experiences around the table, everyone was aligned with Heidi’s values of staying humble and advocating their no-ego ethos around the board room table.
Data and technology
Heidi’s technology, expertly built by their CTO Nico, is integrated seamlessly across their supplier base. This enables Heidi’s technology to pull real-time availability through a huge variety of different sources (airlines, accommodation and transfers) and coordinate them all to create an extensive breadth of bespoke packages for its customers. Crucially, both novice and seasoned ski customers are offered complete flexibility and are not limited to the industry norm of Saturday-to Saturday ski holidays. The modern user-friendly UI/UX enables the majority of bookings to be made without human intervention due to Heidi’s unbroken automation chain.
Supplier
A compelling supplier value proposition is key to securing and retaining high-quality accommodation, which is fundamental to Heidi’s customer value proposition. This enables a breadth of high quality, and often unique ‘hidden gem’ options to customers, all available flexibly. On the supplier side this allows accommodation providers to access to new types of customers, drive revenue per available room and gives improved visibility over occupancy compared to incumbents. Heidi’s focus on its supplier has been key to its disruption of the ski industry to date.
Finance
Often an overlooked function, but having a well-run finance team being able to not only provide financial clarity, but also being viewed as a value driver within the business, is something which is important. Heidi’s FD, Adam Pennyfather’s industry knowledge and calm demeanour throughout the investment process helped both Jan and Adam to gain confidence because of the value the company places upon financial reporting, the value-add which finance can bring, and most importantly ensuring all suppliers are paid so a customer has a smooth holiday.
Mercia Ventures’ investment will allow Heidi to accelerate hires into the team, continue to broaden their excellent supply base and drive further growth through marketing to reach a wider audience.
We are very excited to be working with Marcus, Alexander and the team, so maybe it’s time to put our skis on! You can read more about the investment here.