We are delighted to announce that we have backed a management buyout of the world’s leading Asia-focused ‘cultural adventure’ brand, Inside Travel Group (ITG). We have invested alongside Cool Japan Fund, Japan’s sovereign wealth fund focused on investing in businesses that promote Japanese culture around the world.
The business was founded in 2000 by Simon King and Alastair Donnelly as InsideJapan, a specialist inbound Japan travel brand. Having spent three years living in Japan and experiencing its food, iconic sights, traditions, and pop culture, they returned to the UK with a deep passion for the country. They also realized that current tour operator offerings didn’t fully capture everyday Japanese culture, sparking a desire to share a more authentic experience with others. The market for travellers into Asia from the US, UK and Australia is forecast to grow rapidly, reaching £6.3bn by 2026. In 2024, ITG’s sales will exceed £65m, growing 33% from the previous year.
They went on to develop their expertise in Asia more broadly and launched a second brand, InsideAsia, that creates trips for clients to South Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Borneo among others. ITG differentiate themselves across both brands with their ‘get beneath the surface’ ethos in every country they operate in, and their standout customer service.
The brand is a thought leader in ‘cultural adventure’ travel, combining sights, both well-known and off-radar, with hands-on cultural experiences and a slice of everyday life. It connects travellers with people in each destination – guides, artisans, restauranteurs, retailers, locals and ex-pats – to bring the country to life. With Inside Travel Group, a cultural adventure can be experienced both as a group tour, led by expert Insiders, or a fully tailormade trip. They encourage self-guided exploration and discovery with a ‘travel bible’, bespoke for every customer.
ITG has an industry-leading client satisfaction Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 85 and trade partner satisfaction NPS of 90. Travelling clients benefit from their 30-strong operations team in Japan and their ‘always on’ global customer support team offering 24/7/365 service. They have a strong culture, with 88% of employees saying that they are proud to work for the business. Like us, ITG is a fellow B Corp, committed to the triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit, and becomes our ninth B Corp investment.
Our investment will back the current founders Simon King and Alastair Donnelly alongside their senior leadership team. ITG will continue to be chaired by Ian Simkins, who was previously CEO of Audley and grew the brand from £70m to £350m in seven years. Simkins is also Chair of another of our investments, The Thinking Traveller. Current investors, Blandford Capital, will be exiting as part of the process.
Our investment will help ITG maintain its leading position as the Asian specialist and enable the business to further drive brand awareness across the UK, US and Australia. It is the fifth investment from our seventh fund, and fourth in travel following our investment into Martin Randall in August 2024, Rabbie’s in June 2022 and The Thinking Traveller in November 2020.
Alastair Donnelly, Co-founder of Inside Travel Group, said: ‘We are delighted to be partnering with brand specialists Piper and Japanese sovereign wealth fund Cool Japan to aid the growth of Inside Travel Group’s unique style of cultural adventures and to better service increasing numbers of customers from across our markets. We wanted to bring onboard investors who share our B Corp values and a commitment to ‘travel as a force for good’. As with everything we do, we endeavour to bring an even better travel and service experience to our customers. We are very excited for what lies ahead.’
Masaki Takayanagi, Executive Officer & Managing Director, Cool Japan Fund Inc., said: ‘We are pleased to announce this investment, and are excited to work with Inside Travel Group, together with our partner Piper, to further promote bespoke, activity-based travels from UK/US/Australia to Japan and beyond. Japan has a lot to offer culturally, and we have been inspired by the passion and track record of Alastair and Simon to promote what is inside Japan. As Japan’s sovereign wealth VC/PE fund, utilizing our extensive network and expertise around Japan and globally, we look forward to further unlocking the considerable value and impact of Inside Travel Group.’
Dan Stern, Piper’s Partner, who led the deal, said: ‘We are excited to be backing the Inside Travel Group team for the next stage of growth. We have got to know the team over the years and have been incredibly impressed with how they have scaled the team across three continents and built a strong culture even with the backdrop of Covid. Our consumer insight work shows that the market size for Asia-focused travel is large and growing quickly. Travellers are more than ever seeking out trusted destination specialist travel brands. ITG are experts in this area, thought leaders in cultural adventures, who deliver industry-leading satisfaction levels among clients and high levels of word-of-mouth recommendations.’