A Swiss community born of the WeRoad model
Founded in 2024 by Francesco Lorenzo and Francesco Staccone, TravelTribe grew directly out of the WeRoad ecosystem. Francesco Lorenzo worked there as a travel coordinator before applying the model to a community brought together by sport. In two years, the company has gathered more than 1,600 members in Switzerland and organised more than 300 experiences.
Its offer rests on three formats: regular sports meet-ups in Zurich, ski weekends in the Swiss Alps and coordinator-led trips abroad, following the WeRoad model. The company also describes itself as AI-native, with artificial intelligence at the heart of its product and growth strategy since its creation.
The acquirer highlights the loyalty of this clientele: 47.5% of people who travelled with TravelTribe for the first time had booked another trip within the following twelve months.
Alpine skiing, the flagship product joining the catalogue
The TravelTribe brand, platform and community are being integrated into WeRoad. Local events and trips will move under the Italian group’s brand. The TravelTribe website remains online, but bookings are now handled by WeRoad.
Ski weekends are the main commercial asset in the deal, accounting for almost 70% of TravelTribe’s bookings over the past two winters. From this season, trips to Zermatt, Laax and St Moritz will join the WeRoad catalogue, broadening its range of sport-focused travel. TravelTribe’s coordinators have completed updated training to lead WeRoad departures.
Francesco Staccone takes charge of WeMeet
The deal also has a management dimension. Francesco Staccone joins WeRoad as co-founder of WeMeet, the group’s local events platform, which allows the community to meet up between trips.
He will lead WeMeet’s international development, starting by connecting TravelTribe’s Swiss groups with the Italian community and supporting the app’s launch in Switzerland. He will also oversee the platform’s product and growth, with an AI-native team tasked with simplifying how events are created, discovered and managed.
Francesco Staccone recalls that TravelTribe was built around a simple idea: bringing people together through shared passions and experiences. His long-term ambition is to create a social network for real life, combining local experiences, travel and communities on a single platform.
€70 million in revenue targeted through acquisitions
TravelTribe opens a broader mergers and acquisitions programme. WeRoad aims to add €70 million in revenue through external growth over three years. The plan has three priorities: consolidating its positions in existing markets, particularly the United States and Europe; accelerating its entry into new markets by relying on established local players; and broadening its themed travel offer while growing WeMeet with event organisers, creators and existing communities.
For Andrea Lamperini, Chief Strategy Officer of WeRoad, the acquisition brings the group TravelTribe’s remarkable community in the DACH region, a passion-led travel offer and its AI-first culture. He sees it as the first step in the company’s next great leap forward.
Targets with 2,000 to 40,000 participants a year
The group says it is in discussions on almost every continent with group-travel platforms and events companies that bring together between 2,000 and 40,000 participants a year. Its priorities are the strength of their communities, the quality of their teams, and digital and AI products capable of strengthening real-life experience marketplaces.
Analysis – WeRoad had announced revenue of €100 million for 2024. The external growth target is therefore equivalent to 70% of that figure, a measure of the scale of the acquisitions to come. For Alpine hotels, the arrival of this group-travel specialist for 18 to 49-year-olds in the ski-weekend market creates a new distribution channel towards a young and loyal clientele. It comes as the Swiss market is also attracting fresh capital, as shown by the appointment of David Delarive as head of MFM Mirante Fund Management’s Swiss Hospitality Fund.
At a glance by The Hospitality Tribune
WeRoad acquires Swiss sport-travel community TravelTribe
First deal of an M&A plan targeting €70m in additional revenue within three years
TravelTribe: founded in 2024, 1,600+ members, 300+ experiences, 47.5% repeat bookings within 12 months
Ski weekends in Zermatt, Laax and St. Moritz (c. 70% of bookings) join the WeRoad catalogue this winter
Co-founder Francesco Staccone becomes co-founder of WeMeet, leading its rollout in Switzerland and Italy
Target profile: group-travel and event platforms with 2,000 to 40,000 participants a year
