Rezdy is an online booking platform that serves the tours and activities side of tourism, akin to whatMr Lenoir conceived Rezdy during a break from his career as an information technology manager at French multinational Schneider Electric. He had a holiday job giving scuba diving lessons to French tourists and was promoted to manage the dive centre.“The first year, I had a lot of fun, I was diving every day with customers.
EVP’s team Daniel Szekely, Les Szekely, Justin Lipman and Howard Leibman have backed a winner in Rezdy. Mr Szekely rang Siteminder’s founder Mike Ford to ask how easily he could add tours and activities to its product, and was convinced it was not easy, and that a big untapped opportunity was there. He said he sold some of his stake a couple of years ago in secondaries to buy a house and realise some of the value he had built, but the amount made through the business sale was still significant.Mr Lenoir is already building a new fintech start-up called Budgetly, which is targeted at companies’ management of employee expenses.Mr Szekely’s venture capital firm EVP is also a major shareholder in Rezdy, along with ASX-listed VC fund Bailador.
Bailador first invested $2.5 million in Rezdy in October 2015, and it said that initial investment was valued at four times more by the buyout. Bailador has made a number of follow-on investments in Rezdy, and in total hasEVP first invested in Rezdy in early 2017, and its partner Howard Liebman has been on its board since.
“Tour and activity operators rely fundamentally on the platform for sourcing online bookings. For an operator, a decision to cancel their Rezdy subscription is often tantamount to a decision to close their business.