Americans spent more than $144.8 billion on fishing and hunting in 2022 alone, according to a study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Guided hunting and fishing tours are an important part of the industry, but remain largely offline. Reservations are made by phone and payment is made by check or cash. Mallard Bay is trying to change that.
The Houston-based startup is a marketplace where hunting and fishing consumers can discover and book guided tours online, much like booking a hotel. Mallard Bay is also a vertical SaaS platform for clothing stores themselves to bring their back-office online and provide additional services such as marketing.
The startup announced this week a $4.6 million Series A led by Soul Venture Partners with participation from existing investor Acadian Capital Ventures and other angel investors. Mallard Bay co-founder and CEO Logan Moe told TechCrunch that he got the idea for the company after an unsuccessful hunting trip with his father in college. Told. He thought he had booked his 3-day guided duck hunt in Oklahoma. When they showed up, they found out that the hunt was double booked and the only option was for him to hunt for a day with 13 others. Moe did not fire a single shot.
At the time, Mo was working at his father's startup Waitr, which had raised $24 million in venture capital before exiting in 2018, and thought he could start his own company. In 2019, he and two other co-founders started work. The original idea was to create an Airbnb-like marketplace where people could book guided hunts. After the company started asking outdoor stores and guides what they thought of the idea, they realized they needed to talk more to get guides to sign on. With this, they began building his Guidetech, Mallard's solution for his Bay clothing store back in his office.
“[Outfitters] People bought into the idea and knew that staying current was what they wanted to do, but at their core, clothing companies are not business owners first and foremost,” Mo said. “They start out as guides, doing what they love and building businesses based on their passion. [With] We're not only passionate about the outdoors and going hunting and fishing, but we're also passionate about the software field, so we brought our expertise in that field to them and said, “If you guys are going to make this transition, we'll help you. Yes,” I said. for that. ”
After the company welcomed hunting influencer Toby Brolin to the platform, more clothing businesses began signing up. Mr. Brolin recorded more than $1 million in gross bookings, Mr. Mew said. Across the platform, his total bookings in 2023 are expected to exceed $6 million, and in 2024 he will reach $30 million to $35 million.
Despite the market size and the company's traction, Mo said it was difficult to get investors to sign on because they didn't understand the category or its potential. The company spoke to more than 270 investors for this funding. The startup also needed to correct people's negative perceptions about hunting and assure potential backers that this is not a platform for booking exotic hunting trips in Africa. Another important point the founders wanted to share with investors is that when hunting and fishing is done ethically, it actually helps conservation, something the company is passionate about.
“What comes with hunting and fishing is being a conservationist,” Mo said. “At the end of the day, we learned how to do things from our parents and we want our children to be able to do the same things. Without sustainable practices and sustainable wildlife management, , overpopulation has a negative impact on wildlife in general.”
Mallard Bay co-founders, from left: Wyatt Mallett, Logan Mo, Joel Morrow, and Tam Nguyen.Image credit: Mallard Bay
I'm not a hunter myself, I only dabble in fishing occasionally, but I can't say I hear about hunting or fishing very often in the startup or tech ecosystem, so the Mallard Bay deal caught my eye. I did. Exploring SaaS is an interesting concept. The company is also not the only hunting-related company to raise funding recently. HLRBO, an online platform that makes it easy to find hunting land leases, raised a $1 million seed round in February.
It's also worth noting how much Mallard has been able to grow since its launch in 2021. Mallard Bay bookings are up 600% year-over-year, which is impressive in any category, but notable in categories like hunting and fishing, which seem relatively niche. As I said before, wealth is in niche markets. Perhaps it's because niche markets aren't as small as they first seem.
People in the United States have spent more than $394 billion on outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing as well as hiking and birdwatching, but many of those industries remain offline or operate in low-quality, difficult-to-operate industries. Reliant on technology. I experienced this last month when trying to find parking to hike Sedona, Arizona's very popular Devil's Bridge Trail. I had to piece together information from multiple blogs to find out if I needed a parking pass.
Beyond Mallard Bay, there are examples of customer demand for these outdoor-focused applications. Strava is an app for runners and bikers with over 100 million users. Applications that connect people who share common outdoor activities, such as fishing, also have strong traction. Fishbrain, a social media app for fishermen, has recorded over 14 million fish caught in its 12-year history.
Mo knows how big this can get and believes that despite the progress made so far, there is still a lot of market to capture and more features to build into Guidetech.
“I'd like to say we've had some success, but we haven't yet,” Mo said. “And that's something I learned from his father along the way. There was still work to be done at his company after he left.”