Airbnb-backed WeHighway raises $58M to take its group journey platform to the US

WeRoad, the Milan-based group journey startup, has raised a $58 million Series C spherical led by Airbnb because it prepares for its first main growth outdoors Europe. The funding brings the corporate’s complete capital raised to roughly $100 million and can finance WeHighway’s push into the U.S., starting with Austin.

The new funding displays a guess that the following era of journey corporations might look much less like reserving platforms and extra like social platforms designed to facilitate real-world connections. 

The U.S. launch additionally arrives as loneliness, significantly amongst youthful shoppers, has turn out to be each a public well being concern and an rising enterprise alternative. When a lot of the tech trade stays targeted on AI, WeHighway is positioning itself as a part of the rising “IRL economy,” a class of startups monetizing offline interplay relatively than display screen time. Companies like Timeleft, 222, and Pie are pursuing related concepts by dinners, golf equipment, occasions, and community-based experiences.

The thought behind WeHighway got here from the founders—Paolo De Nadai, Fabio Bin, and Erika De Santi— looking for connection themselves. 

“It started from a very personal need. When you finish college and start working, it becomes harder to find people to travel with. Friends were settling down, having kids, moving away, or simply couldn’t align schedules anymore,” De Nadai informed TechCrunch. “My cofounder Fabio and I both tried companies offering similar group travel experiences for solo travellers, but while the trips were good, something was missing. The guides were professional local experts, and the groups were mixed in age, and people didn’t really see eye to eye. People were traveling together, but not really connecting.”

The founders’ response was to revamp group journey round shared pursuits. WeHighway journeys are primarily designed for youthful vacationers and grouped round shared pursuits and journey kinds. Customers can ebook journeys by the platform primarily based on themes corresponding to seashore holidays or snowboarding. 

“We asked ourselves, ‘What if we created trips for Millennials and Gen Z travellers, bringing together people from the same age groups with shared cultural references but completely different backgrounds, and focused on creating real bonds between them?’” De Nadai added.

Before every journey begins, vacationers are added to a WhatsApp group managed by the group chief so members can start attending to know each other forward of time. Groups sometimes embrace between eight and fifteen vacationers.

“The biggest concern people have is rarely the destination,” De Nadai stated, however normally considerations that they gained’t join with the group. To tackle that, WeHighway deliberately buildings itineraries round social dynamics. More adventurous or collaborative actions are sometimes scheduled early within the journey to assist break the ice.

Most itineraries final between 10 and 12 days, although the corporate has additionally launched shorter weekend codecs geared toward first-time clients. According to WeHighway, roughly 60% of vacationers finally ebook one other journey.

Additionally, as a substitute of conventional tour guides, WeHighway has “group leaders,” coordinators nearer in age to vacationers who act extra like journey companions. The firm now works with greater than 4,000 group leaders globally. 

“We’re not looking for destination experts, but for people with travel experience and strong soft skills. Can they lead a group, handle tension, adapt when plans change, and help strangers connect?” De Nadai stated. 

WeHighway has additionally begun increasing past journey itself. In 2025, the corporate launched WeMeet, an app targeted on native in-person gatherings, together with dinners, hikes, yoga courses, operating teams, after-work drinks, and board sport nights. WeHighway says greater than 50,000 folks attended WeMeet occasions throughout 35 cities final 12 months, whereas the app reached 150,000 downloads.

The firm says WeMeet will even play a central position in its U.S. growth technique. Rather than instantly scaling nationwide, WeHighway plans to deal with a small variety of cities first, starting with Austin, the place it’ll recruit group leaders, manage native occasions, and construct neighborhood partnerships earlier than increasing additional.

“We’ll be launching WeMeet events across multiple U.S. cities throughout 2026, starting with Austin because of its incredible energy and vibrant community scene,” De Nadai stated.

Whether corporations can construct lasting companies round loneliness and social connection stays an open query. But traders are more and more betting that the demand is actual.

WeHighway says it generated €130 million in income in 2025, up 30% 12 months over 12 months, whereas taking greater than 100,000 vacationers on journeys final 12 months alone. Since launching in 2017, the corporate says it has organized journey for greater than 300,000 clients throughout over 1,000 itineraries globally.