Participated · Equity · Jan 2022

DHARMA sells and plans multi-day travel experiences hosted by creators, influencers and brands, enabling fans to book passion-driven trips. The platform recently partnered with Paramount Global to launch Paris by Emily, the first official travel experience tied to the Netflix series Emily in Paris. DHARMA plans to expand its roster of creators and enter new verticals such as culinary, sports, fashion, and lifestyle tourism. The company positions itself at the intersection of the creator economy and macro trends like rising consumer spending on experiences and a desire for real-world connection. DHARMA says it is based in the UAE and emphasizes passion-based travel as its core conviction. The startup has raised prior rounds, and the company’s fundraising and partnerships are being used to scale its creator roster and product offerings. DHARMA builds travel brands for the passion economy by blending online SaaS technology with automated tour operations to help iconic people and brands monetize their networks through curated travel experiences. The company partners with public figures and brands—most recently launching Looking FC with Eric Cantona, a series of four-day immersive football trips crafted by Cantona. DHARMA also runs client programs for organizations such as Culture Trip, Bitso, Pernod Ricard, Equinox and meditation instructor Light Watkins. Founded in 2018, the founding team relocated to Abu Dhabi after being accepted into Mubadala’s Hub71 and remains a remote-native team with backgrounds at Uber, Airbnb, Equinox, Butterfield & Robinson and G Adventures. Management reports that 2022 Booked GMV was already 30x that of 2019 and 6x that of 2021, signaling rapid recovery and growth. The company says it plans additional brand launches and partnerships across categories from wellness to street art and cannabis.