Investing in Arrive, the Easiest Way to Experience the Outdoors

Over 40 million people go camping in the United States every single year. Billions of dollars are spent (and wasted) on equipment that is used just once or twice.

The Elevator Pitch

The experience of camping is a national pastime, bringing family and friends together in nature to bond and create memories. You know, adventures, hiking, campfires, and s’mores! But the experience of preparing to go camping, on the other hand, is a huge headache given the logistics and costs. One typically spends over a thousand dollars on all the proper equipment, lugs it to a campsite (and back), then stores it away for months or years until they use it again, if ever. The same can be said of the casual skier.

Arrive Outdoors, based in Los Angeles, is applying Sharing Economy principles to the outdoor gear market, and partnering with premium brands to offer their gear for rent. The company makes it possible to easily and sustainably experience the outdoors. They support camping, backpacking, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and more. It’s no wonder that they were named ‘2019 Outdoor Retailer of the Year’.

I am excited to announce our participation in Arrive’s $4.75M seed round alongside Freestyle Capital and Science.

The ‘It Factor’

Since founding my own startup, FreshNeck, almost a decade ago, I have been a firm believer in, and follower of, the collaborative consumption movement. We’ve seen companies like Uber, AirBnB, RentTheRunway, Zipcar, Feather, and others completely shift consumer behavior, and how we think about access v. ownership. Given its high cost, infrequent use, specificity for occasion (weather, type of camping), and relative ease of shipping, outdoor gear makes for the ideal shareable/rentable good. And while Arrive is not the first company to realize this, they have cracked and unlocked a key component: Distribution. It is imperative to not only minimize cost of acquisition, but also to find the customer at the exact right time. In this case, Arrive partners with campsites and mountain resorts (often exclusively) to be showcased directly into the booking flow. They’ll even ship your goods to your home, AirBnB, one of 10,000 FedEx locations, or the resort itself.

It’s this last part, distribution, that got me so excited to partner with Rachelle and Ross, a husband-and-wife team with superpowers in partnerships, business development, and operations.

Extra Credits

• Read more about their story and financing in Techcrunch.
• Arrive Outdoors is adding a Full Stack Engineer to their team!
• Given the last couple of months, we can all use a little (outdoor getaway). Get everything you need here.
• Keep tabs on them through social: Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn