Time to Momo: steward-ownership in the travel industry
The unconventional company Time to Momo is bringing back the human touch to travel with hotel website, travel guide and app-in-1. Their next step requires another investment. Thanks to steward-ownership, investors do share in profits, but their mission locked.
The combination of steward-ownership and impact investors like No Dodos guarantee a sustainable future for Time to Momo
No Dodos invests in Time to Momo to accelerate the transition to a fairer and more social economy with mission-driven businesses.
What makes Time to Momo different?
In 2020, the Rotterdam-based startup Moonback entered the market as a sustainable alternative, taking on ‘ruthless profit machines’ like Booking.com and Expedia. In 2023, Moonback merged with Time to Momo, creating a travel platform that combines a hotel website, travel guide, and app. Time to Momo is driven by a mission to bring the human touch back to the travel industry, focusing on (and thereby supporting) the local economy and small-scale tourism rather than package deals and mass tourism.
In 3 questions with Niels, we take a deeper dive into the unique characteristics of Time to Momo:
Dodo Dilemma: Forced Downsizing or Growth with Venture Capital?
Let’s get started: Niels, you lead a mission-driven company with steward-ownership as your legal structure to safeguard your mission, and your business is partially funded through crowdfunding. To better understand you and your enterprise, we’d like to present you with a Dodo Dilemma:
Suppose your current model reaches its limits, forcing you to downsize, while on the other hand, you receive an offer from venture capital to grow — on the condition that this investor gains more influence and a larger share of the profits.
What would you do?
Why crowdfunding?
There are various ways to raise capital. Why did you choose crowdfunding for Time to Momo and previously for Moonback?
Niels: "We are building a more social platform economy. That’s why crowdfunding is a perfect fit for Moonback, rather than relying on a large investment firm solely focused on maximizing profits. With crowdfunding, we bring together a large group of people who genuinely care about the mission we pursue. These are people who want things to be fair and well-organized when they book a hotel. Crowdfunding provides us with both capital and an engaged community."
Why invest?
Time to Momo is already a successful hotel website, travel guide, and app. Why is more funding needed?
Niels: "The paper travel guide itself is still produced by another company, publisher mo'media. Acquiring the printed travel guides is a unique opportunity. By bringing the hotel website, app, and guides together under one company, we expect to become profitable immediately. It also offers opportunities to enhance your city trips. For example, we aim to better integrate the inspiring routes from the printed guides with navigation features in the app. Additionally, it opens the door to new opportunities, such as a subscription model that provides travellers with extra benefits when combining the hotel, app, and travel guide."
If you want to participate in a (possible) next round of investment, keep a close eye on Time to Momo. And if you'd like to make a positive local impact on your next trip, head over to TimeToMomo.com.
Thanks to Niels and Time to Momo for text and images.