Sir Richard Branson’s former ski instructor has launched a funding drive to expand his SkiYodl travel booking app in a bet on a holiday boom next winter.
Oli Dannatt wants to raise up to £750,000 and says he has already received backing from TV presenter and budding investor Jake Humphrey.
Star turn: Ski instructor Oli Dannatt with former Chelsea footballer Gianluca Vialli
Dannatt, who is from Norfolk, spent ten years as an instructor on the slopes of Verbier in Switzerland.
His pupils included former Chelsea footballer Gianluca Vialli, chef Jamie Oliver and model Claudia Schiffer.
Tech start-up SkiYodl’s app acts as a room booking agent across 12 Alpine resorts. It also offers information on bars, events and services. Dannatt – who formerly worked as a shipping broker at City firm Icap – hopes to expand into Andora, North America and Japan, and to offer bookings for ski passes and airport transfers.
SkiYodl notched up revenues of £350,000 in two months before Covid shutdown the Alps last spring. Dannatt has high hopes for the next ski season beginning in December.
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