Airbnb leads $58M Series C for WeRoad, hires its CEO to run hotels
What's the deal? Airbnb led a $58 million Series C funding round for WeRoad, a European tour and experience platform, on Wednesday. The deal gives Airbnb a 10% stake in WeRoad and a board seat. In a twist, Airbnb also hired WeRoad's CEO, Andrea D'Amico, to serve as its new vice president of hotels — announced just one day before the funding news broke.
D'Amico has led WeRoad since 2022 and previously spent 18 years as a senior Booking.com hotel executive in EMEA.
WeRoad operates multiday tours and runs a platform for tour guides offering experiences. The investment signals Airbnb's intent to use WeRoad's infrastructure to scale its own experiences business — one of its most persistent growth challenges.
Why now? Airbnb has struggled to attract quality tour guides to power its experiences offering. WeRoad, which has already built that supply side in Europe, could provide a shortcut. The funding is earmarked for US expansion, suggesting Airbnb sees an opportunity to import a proven European model into its home market.
Hiring D'Amico to lead hotels while simultaneously investing in his former company ties two strategic priorities together: hospitality expertise and experiences growth.
What could go wrong? The dual relationship is unusual. D'Amico now sits on WeRoad's board as an Airbnb representative while running a separate Airbnb business unit. That creates potential conflicts of interest, especially if WeRoad's priorities diverge from Airbnb's over time. A 10% stake is meaningful but not controlling — Airbnb will need WeRoad's continued cooperation without the leverage of majority ownership.
Scaling experiences in the US is also a different challenge from running tours in Europe, where WeRoad has built its reputation. The playbook may not translate directly.
The signal: Corporate-led rounds like this remain relatively rare in European travel tech, making Airbnb's strategic bet on WeRoad — now classified as a late-growth stage company by Dealroom — a notable validation of the bundled-trip model. It also underscores how Airbnb, acting as a corporate investor, is increasingly using its balance sheet rather than just its platform to solve persistent supply-side gaps in experiences and hospitality.
Read more: skift.com
