Incubated at StartLab Brussels (ULB), the Brussels start-up founded by the duo from UCLouvain (she studied economics and a master’s degree in entrepreneurship; he is a management engineer) counts among its investors Elev8te, the management tool financing for student-entrepreneurs developed by BeAngels. “This is Elev8te’s first investmentunderlines, enthusiastically, Maxime Mertens from Wilmars. The project will benefit from the BeAngels ecosystem both in terms of support and expertise.” In addition to Elev8te, we also find Nicolas Steisel, co-founder of Exki, Maxence Lacroix, manager of the Belgian company Javry Coffee, Martin de Waziers, Swiss business angel, and finance&invest.brussels, to which is added a bank loan of up to 100 000 euros thanks to innovation.hub from BNP Parisbas which made it possible to close the funding round.
DiscoveRent creates “responsible adventure travel”
Two years ago, the two co-founders launched their project with their own funds before raising 12,000 euros via crowdfunding in May 2022. “It gave us the opportunity to push our sales.” Since their beginnings, the two young entrepreneurs have transported more than 1,700 people “in the heart of nature and supervised by experienced guides” by favoring proximity (travel in Europe only, to encourage trains and carpooling), local food and accommodation “authentic”.
“Wild Heart”
“Basically, DiscoveRent was an outdoor equipment rental project, which is no longer relevant at all, continues Maxime Mertens from Wilmars. So we changed the name to Wildhartt, like ‘wild heart’, with an adapted spelling that makes the word easy to pronounce. We wanted to find a name that reflected our values and our mission. DiscoveRent’s mission was to reinvent responsible travel. From now on, we also want to have a positive impact on the territories we explore. We have therefore partnered with the WWF rangerclub to support a project which aims to protect biodiversity in the Carpathians, the green heart of Europe. In addition, through the WWF rangerclub, we also raise awareness of nature among young people aged 12 to 16 with our guided adventure stays specially designed for them.”
A profile for guides like on Airbnb
In 2023, the start-up’s turnover amounted to 168,000 euros. It should exceed 250,000 euros this year.
With the fundraising, “we will develop the French market from March 2025indicates the co-founder. Our new platform has been ready for a few days but phase 2 of the development of our website is arriving, which will allow easier access for independent guides. We work with guides (65 currently) who offer itineraries but do not have a travel license. We take care of food and accommodation, administrative support and travel sales while allowing them to benefit from our image. In phase 2, also scheduled for March 2025, the guides will have their own profile on the platform. We can compare this with an individual who offers his accommodation on Airbnb.
Currently, the routes are located in Belgium, France, Sweden, Norway and Italy. Slovenia will be added from this week and Scotland by the end of the year.
And Maxime Mertens from Wilmars concludes: “We hope, with a small team (4 today and 8 in 2027) and a platform that empowers a lot of our activities, to be able to take more than 5,000 people per year on an adventure in Europe by 2027.”
