Create account for free and enjoy unlimited access to exclusive industry insights and reports. According to our data, it is the largest financing round for a woman-led startup in Saudi. Gathern had previously raised an undisclosed amount of money in a seed round in Founded in by Latifa Altamimi and Faisal Alanazi, Gathern had started as a chalet booking platform, enabling users to book chalets across Saudi.
It kept expanding into other types of properties and evolved into a peer-to-peer vacation rental marketplace with a presence in over cities of the Kingdom including Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Abha, Al-Baha, Taif, Al-Ula, and Umluj. In addition to chalets, it can be used to book rooms, apartments, villas, resorts, camps, farms, and yachts for short stays. In a statement, the Saudi startup said that it has capacity to host 1.
What makes Gathern different from a host of similar local and international platforms operating in Saudi is that its licensed by Saudi Minsitry of Tourism as a private vacation rentals marketplace. Gathern had received this license by the Saudi ministiry in July last year. A property owner in the Kingdom is normally required to obtain individual permit if they want to rent out their property for short term rentals but using Gathern, they can list their property and host guests without it.
The Middle Eastern country is investing billions of dollars in different tourism initiatives as part of its efforts to to diversify its revenue sources and reduce the depdendence on oil exports. According to the statement by Gathern, it aims to welcome million international and domestic visitors by , which if acheived could turn in into one of the top five tourist destinations globally.
The country already receives millions of visitors every year for Hajj and Umrah and with the tourist visa that it introduced recently, the number of international vistiors is expected to increase significantly, added the statement. Saudi Arabia has a renewed vision for its tourism sector, with both domestic and international tourism seeing significant support. This allows anyone to explore the real culture and cities in Saudi Arabia.
