Travel site iexplore.com sold to British firm

Adventure travel Web site iExplore.com is going on its own overseas trip. West Loop-based iExplore Inc. was sold recently to British firm First Choice Holidays PLC for an undisclosed sum. First Choice Holidays, a leisure travel company, purchased iExplore Inc., UK-based i-to-i and WesternXposure of Australia for a combined total of $32.5M based on the recent exchange rate. The deal includes future payments of up to $26.7M based on how each unit performs, according to a First Choice statement. The CEO of iExplore Inc., was 30 when he started iExplore Inc. in 1999 with the financial backing of Tribune Co.’s Tribune Ventures and NY venture capital firm Bear Ventures. Tribune Ventures has since bowed out. The investors at the time of the sale were Bear Ventures, William Harris Investments of Chicago and an angel network of travel executives. National Geographic also had a stake in iExplore Inc., which it sold. The current CEO, who will remain, declined to provide the sale price but said all three companies received roughly the same amount, or about $10.8M. The president of Adventure Travel Trade Assn., said that while consolidation has been happening in the industry, there are also a number of company owners looking to exit the business. He said a lot of the adventure travel companies that are around now have started in the 1970s and the owners are hitting retirement age. Most adventure travel companies are independent. The CEO was an investment banker frustrated with the challenge of arranging his own adventure trips, so he started iExplore Inc. The company began as a travel agency that provided resources and sold travel-related gear, and is now a tour operator as well. Now more than 1.3M unique visitors go to iExplore.com each month, and 90% of trips booked through iExplore.com are company-coordinated guided tours that allow travelers to pick their departure and return dates. Adventure travel, along with the rest of the travel industry, took a hit after 9/11. Waning business forced him to pare down his staff and revisit his business model.