Explora Project

What Explora Project does

Explora Project is a privately held French adventure travel company founded in 2018 in Annecy, France, that designs and sells all-inclusive, low-carbon expedition packages across 18 European destinations. The company operates a direct-to-consumer booking platform with a self-serve website reservation system, a proprietary Five-Level Adventure Assessment (Niveau 1-5), and a carbon footprint quantification protocol enforcing the No Plane 2025 commitment to keep round-trip emissions under 200 kg CO2 per participant, aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement. Travel offerings span hiking, trekking, mountaineering, cycling, water sports, climbing, yoga, and astronomy, with curated catalogs for adult adventurers and families with children aged 3+ (via the Explora Family sub-brand and registered Family Base Camp trademark), and a separate corporate seminar channel routed through partner Deskape.fr.

The business is organized around 200 contracted mountain guide-explorers coordinated from Annecy, with small group sizes (5-8 participants), transparent all-inclusive pricing (€325-€2,000+ per trip), and a content ecosystem comprising the Homo Exploratus podcast, Journal d'Explora Project blog, newsletter, and an interactive level quiz tool that feeds 300,000 community members. Pricing is fully disclosed: 30% to guides, 35% to accommodation and food, 10% to equipment and logistics, and 25% to operational overhead. The company became the first French mission-driven travel agency under the PACTE law in November 2020, raised approximately €5M+ across 2020-2022 from investors including CapHorn Invest, 50 Partners, Aonia Ventures, Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement, France Angels, and Kima Ventures, and has served 10,000+ lifetime travelers with a 4.8/5 rating across 4,334 reviews.

The company monetizes exclusively through one-time adventure package sales; there are no subscription or licensing revenue streams. Distribution is overwhelmingly direct via website booking, supplemented by phone support and WhatsApp-based participant coordination. Operational technology is light: standard payment processing (Visa, Mastercard, AmEx), HubSpot for family inquiry scheduling, and a custom catalog/pricing engine; no AI/ML capabilities, public API, SDK, or mobile app are referenced in source material. Geographic reach is constrained by the low-carbon thesis (Iceland, Greenland, Madeira, Canary Islands excluded for being plane-dependent), and operations are concentrated in France and broader Europe.

Name

Explora Project

Legal name

Explora Project

Website

https://explora-project.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Explora Project is a French adventure travel company founded in 2018 that sells all-inclusive, low-carbon expedition packages across 18 European destinations to individual adventurers, families with children aged 3+, and corporate clients via partner Deskape.fr.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Adventure Travel Services

NAICS

Tour Operators (56152), Tour Operators (561520), Travel Agencies (561510)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Adventure & Expedition Travel Agencies (THAKAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Multi-Activity & Expedition Packages (Guided Adventure Trips) (THAJABAL), Technical Outdoor Guiding Services (Hiking, Trekking, Mountaineering) (THAAALAA), Mountain, Glacier & Alpine Nature Tours (THAJAIAF), Guided Backcountry & Off-Piste Services (Ski Touring, Splitboarding, Heli/Cat Skiing) (THAAAJAD)

Keywords

• Adventure travel
• Low-carbon expeditions
• Guided hiking trips
• Family adventure vacations
• Mountain trekking services

Headquarters

HQ city

Annecy

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Adventure Package Sales: All-inclusive adventure trip packages sold directly to consumers. Pricing includes guide fees (30%), accommodation and food (35%), equipment and logistics (10%), and operational overhead (25%). Trips range from 2-15 days with group sizes of 5-8 participants.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Explora Project designs and sells all-inclusive, low-carbon adventure travel packages across 18 European destinations, led by a network of 200 certified mountain guide-explorers. Each package bundles professional guiding, accommodation, meals, technical equipment, and logistics, with a 5-level difficulty assessment system and small group sizes of 5-8 participants, sold direct-to-consumer via the company website.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Explora Family: A sub-brand dedicated to family-friendly adventure travel, offering expeditions for families with children as young as 3 years old, including Family Base Camp and itinerant family adventure formats.

Quantifiable outcome

• 10,000+ travelers served since founding
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• SatorizminorOthersPartnership for sourcing dried food in bulk for expedition provisions. Satoriz is an outdoor food supplier providing quality provisions for adventure trips.
• Deskape.frcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorReferral partnership for corporate seminars and team-building services. Deskape handles enterprise client bookings while Explora Project provides the adventure expertise.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Terres d'Aventure: Terres d'Aventure is a long-established French adventure travel agency offering guided outdoor trips (hiking, trekking, mountaineering) across Europe and worldwide — directly competing with Explora Project on guided multi-day adventure packages for French-speaking customers.
• Atalante: Atalante is a French adventure tour operator specializing in trekking, hiking, and discovery trips worldwide with a sustainability and human-scale positioning — closely comparable to Explora Project's model of small-group, guided, responsible adventure travel.
• Allibert Trekking: Allibert Trekking is a French adventure travel specialist offering guided treks and expeditions worldwide, comparable to Explora Project in its guided small-group adventure model and European customer base.
• La Balaguère: La Balaguère is a French adventure travel agency offering hiking and discovery trips primarily in Europe with a nature-immersed, small-group positioning — directly comparable to Explora Project on European outdoor adventure packages.
• Much Better Adventures: Much Better Adventures is a UK-based direct-to-consumer adventure travel marketplace offering small-group guided trips with a sustainability focus — directly comparable to Explora Project's D2C booking model, sustainability messaging, and small-group European adventures.

Broad incumbents

• Intrepid Travel: Intrepid Travel is a global adventure tour operator offering small-group guided trips worldwide with a strong sustainability positioning — a broader incumbent in the same category as Explora Project, with greater geographic reach and scale.
• G Adventures: G Adventures is a large global adventure travel company offering small-group guided trips worldwide with a community-focused, sustainable tourism positioning — overlapping with Explora Project's audience and values but at significantly larger scale.
• Explore Worldwide: Explore Worldwide is a UK-based adventure tour operator offering small-group guided trips across Europe and worldwide — comparable to Explora Project on guided small-group adventure travel with broader geographic coverage.

Regional players

• Azimut Voyage: Azimut Voyage is a French adventure travel agency specializing in skiing, mountaineering, and freeride trips across Europe — a regional peer with comparable European alpine adventure offerings.
• UCPA: UCPA is a French non-profit association offering accessible outdoor sports vacations (hiking, mountaineering, skiing, sailing) for young people and adults — overlapping with Explora Project on European guided outdoor adventures, particularly for younger and budget-conscious French customers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/exploraproject
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC9vqBClLc6MmVfg1thME3CA
• Facebookfacebook.com/ExploraProject
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/explora-project
• Instagraminstagram.com/explora_project

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors6 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Explora Project