India’s experiential travel startup WanderOn has raised ₹54 crore in a Series A funding round led by DSG Consumer Partners and Client Associates Alternate Fund (CAAF), marking one of the largest institutional fundraises by a fully bootstrapped travel company in the country.
The fundraise comes at a time when India’s travel market is undergoing a structural shift, with younger travellers moving away from sightseeing heavy itineraries towards experience-led, community driven journeys built around culture, adventure, and shared moments.
Unlike conventional funding announcements driven by boardroom pitches and press releases, WanderOn chose a distinctly brand-first route by letting people experience the product instead of explaining it.
From NIT Kurukshetra to a ₹100 Cr+ bootstrapped journey
WanderOn was founded by engineers from NIT Kurukshetra who believed that traditional group tours in India had become rigid and transactional. Rather than designing travel around destinations, the founders built journeys around people friendships, festivals, sports, and immersive local cultures.
This approach resonated strongly with Gen Z and millennial travellers, helping WanderOn scale into a ₹100 crore plus revenue business without raising external capital an uncommon feat in India’s travel-tech ecosystem.
The brand’s identity is rooted in pop culture and storytelling, drawing inspiration from films like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, not as cinematic fantasy but as lived, real-world experiences.
Why a boardroom pitch wouldn’t work
WanderOn’s product is not a hotel or a tour package. It is an experience built on community bonding, shared meals, activities, fun, and emotional moments. These cannot be fully captured in slides or explained across a table they have to be lived.
That led to a simple insight: if investors want to understand WanderOn, they should not be told about the trip. They should be taken on the trip.
A fundraise announcement that broke convention
To announce the Series A, WanderOn released a cinematic, thriller style short film. The narrative follows two investors who are seemingly kidnapped by the founders and taken on a trip. Initial fear turns into comfort as they are drawn into food, activities, group fun, and quiet moments like watching sunsets together.
When the journey ends, the expected ransom never comes. Instead, the investors now emotionally invested ask to continue the trip and offer money to be part of it.
The film then reveals the truth: this was the fundraise pitch, followed by the announcement of the ₹54 crore raise.
The film was conceptualised and produced entirely by WanderOn’s in-house team, ensuring complete alignment with the brand’s voice and long-term content vision.
What lies ahead
The fresh capital will be used to expand WanderOn’s global footprint, deepen its adventure, sports-led and culture-first travel categories, and invest further in community-led experience design.
By turning a financial milestone into a lived experience, WanderOn reinforced a simple belief: its magic is not meant to be explained it is meant to be experienced.
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