Luxury travel brand Mr & Mrs Smith to push US expansion with £1m crowdfund

Luxury boutique travel company Mr & Mrs Smith has embarked on a crowdfunding campaign to raise seven figures and broaden its customer offering.

The London-based firm is hoping to secure at least £1m on investment platform Crowdcube and build on growth seen in recent years.

Smith increased its total total transaction value to £63.5m in the 12 months to June 2018, a year-on-year rise of 22%. Revenues for the period grew 35% to £10.6m.

Cash generated through the campaign will be used to accelerate development of Smith’s operations in the US and increase the rate at which hotels and villas are introduced to its lineup.

The company will also launch Mr & Mrs Smith SideStories, a new arm focused on offering members “highly original cultural experiences”.

Smith was founded in 2003 by husband-and-wife duo James and Tamara Lohan. Since then, it has built a network of more than 1.5 million members across over 100 countries.

Co-founder James said: “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.

“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.”

He added: “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.”

Co-founder Tamara commented: “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.”

One of the founders of Crowdcube, Luke Lang, hailed Smith as “an iconic British brand and an entrepreneurial success story”.

He said: “We’re delighted that the team at Mr & Mrs Smith have chosen Crowdcube to support this crowdfunding campaign, which we expect will be the start of a new and exciting chapter for the company.”