Swiss start-up MyCamper expands to Scandinavia
The Basel-based sharing platform for private camping vehicles is to acquire 100 percent of the Swedish provider Housecar as of December 8, 2022. This will add around 1100 new vehicles to the existing portfolio in the three markets of Sweden, Norway and Finland. In 2023, MyCamper expects a booking volume of 5.4 million Swiss francs in the Scandinavian markets.
As of December 8, 2022, the Swiss peer-to-peer camping platform MyCamper from Basel acquired 100 percent of the Swedish competitor Housecar. The provider Housecar, which has been active in Sweden since 2020 and in the meantime also in Norway and Finland, will thus be merged into MyCamper and will in future be known as their website be detectable.
From minority interest to complete takeover
In the markets of Sweden, Norway and Finland, there are a total of around 700,000 camping vehicles. That is almost seven times more than in Switzerland. MyCamper had therefore started in 2019 to build a presence itself in the very attractive camping market of Sweden. "After a few months, we noticed that the competition was doing a very good job and it would be difficult to achieve our growth targets there," reports Stefan Lieberherr, CEO of the young company. Instead, MyCamper had invested in the competition and acquired a minority stake in Housecar in 2021. It was by no means a hostile takeover, according to reports from both sides. "We share the same vision and values," said Rickard Magnusson, CEO of Housecar. "Camping vehicles are used on average about 20 days per year. We want to help make better use of existing resources. In addition, we want to make camping and the camping experience accessible to everyone."
Significant expansion of the volume
With the acquisition, four new employees join MyCamper, two of them in management. Thus, the team grows to 25 people. In the markets of Sweden, Norway and Finland, approximately 1100 new rentable private vehicles will be added to the platform. In Switzerland, there are currently more than 2000. In the new markets, MyCamper expects an additional booking volume of 5.4 million francs next year - about half as much as currently in Switzerland. "According to a survey, Scandinavia is one of the most popular camping destinations for our community. So we expect that in the future more Swiss people will take advantage of the opportunity to rent vehicles via MyCamper in the respective markets," says Lieberherr.
Success story in the sharing economy
MyCamper can be described as a Swiss start-up success story. The "Financial Times" ranked the company among the 1000 fastest-growing companies in Europe in 2021. Early investors in the company included Tobias Reichmuth and Roland Brack, known from "The Lion's Den Switzerland" and even die-hard outdoor fans. Already in the first active year 2016, more than 1000 rental nights were arranged. In 2019, it was already almost 26,000. The growth could be accelerated again during the pandemic. "This year we are slightly below last year, but firmly expect that we will return to the growth track," says the CEO.
MyCamper is the largest Swiss peer-to-peer sharing platform in terms of sales, the fourth largest camper sharing platform in Europe and the number one in all markets with its own presence (Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland). By means of the expansion to Sweden, Norway and Finland, economies of scale are to be taken along with the aim of entering further European markets in the future.
