# Hipcamp: A Technology Company Reshaping Outdoor Access
Hipcamp is a marketplace platform that democratizes access to outdoor camping experiences by connecting campers with private landowners, public lands, and campgrounds.[1][4] Founded in 2013, the company operates a mobile app and website where users discover and book diverse outdoor stays—from tent camping and RV parks to cabins, treehouses, and glamping options.[5] The platform serves two primary constituencies: millions of campers seeking outdoor adventures and rural landowners (farmers, ranchers, vintners) looking to generate additional income from their land.[4]
The company's mission extends beyond commerce: get more people outside while protecting land and biodiversity.[1][4] Hipcamp has achieved significant scale, with over 7 million campers using the platform and more than 10 million nights booked as of 2023.[4][6] By unlocking approximately 5 million acres of private land for camping, Hipcamp addresses a fundamental supply-demand imbalance in the outdoor lodging sector, where about 60% of U.S. land is privately owned but largely inaccessible to the public.[1]
Alyssa Ravasio created Hipcamp in 2013 after a frustrating personal experience. While planning a New Year's camping trip near Big Sur, California, she spent hours searching dozens of websites for a simple beachside campsite.[2] Rather than accept this friction, Ravasio enrolled in Dev Bootcamp, a 12-week coding crash course in San Francisco, and built the first version of Hipcamp herself that same year.[5] Co-founder Eric Bach joined later in 2013 before departing in 2016.[1]
Ravasio's background shaped the company's philosophy: while at UCLA, she created her own major studying the internet's impact on society, which inspired her vision of using technology as a democratizing tool.[1] The platform initially functioned as a discovery tool, aggregating metadata on existing public campgrounds (state parks, national parks, national forests, BLM land) into a unified interface.[1] This solved an immediate user need and revealed deeper supply issues in the outdoor lodging market, prompting the pivot toward a two-sided marketplace connecting private landowners with campers.[1]
Hipcamp operates at the intersection of several powerful trends. The outdoor recreation sector has experienced sustained demand growth driven by rising travel costs, remote work flexibility, and consumer interest in wellness and nature-based experiences.[1] Simultaneously, rural economies face pressure as traditional land-based livelihoods decline—Hipcamp's model creates new income streams for agricultural communities, addressing economic vitality in underserved regions.
The company also exemplifies a broader shift in marketplace design: moving beyond dense urban ecosystems to tap underutilized assets in rural and natural environments.[7] This reflects how technology increasingly enables peer-to-peer transactions in traditionally fragmented, offline-first sectors. Additionally, Hipcamp's emphasis on environmental stewardship—through initiatives like Project Monarch (protecting monarch butterfly habitats) and land conservation—aligns with growing investor and consumer demand for businesses with measurable ecological impact.[4]
The platform's success in aggregating public land data has influenced the broader outdoor industry, establishing a precedent for open data sharing among federal and state agencies and enabling downstream innovation by partners like REI, AllTrails, and RVShare.[4]
Hipcamp has matured from a scrappy startup solving a personal problem into an industry infrastructure player with global reach and demonstrated unit economics. The company's 10-year trajectory—from discovery tool to 10-million-night marketplace—suggests sustained product-market fit and network effects as more landowners and campers join the platform.
Looking forward, Hipcamp's growth will likely depend on deepening penetration in existing markets (U.S., Canada, UK, Australia) while selectively expanding to new geographies where private land access remains fragmented. The company's ability to balance growth with environmental stewardship—through conservation partnerships and responsible recreation scaling—will be critical as outdoor recreation intensifies pressure on natural ecosystems.
The broader opportunity lies in replicating this model across other underutilized asset classes: agricultural land for agritourism, private forests for recreation, or rural properties for wellness retreats. Hipcamp's core insight—that technology can unlock economic value while advancing conservation—positions it as a template for marketplace innovation in the natural economy.
Hipcamp has raised $41.0M in total across 4 funding rounds.
Hipcamp's investors include 7BC Venture Capital, ACME Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, August Capital, Balderton Capital, Benchmark, Bessemer Venture Partners, Boldstart Ventures, Bowery Capital, Buckley Ventures, Cantos Ventures, Canvas Ventures.
Hipcamp has raised $41.0M across 4 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $25.0M Series B in July 2019.
