North West entrepreneurs join forces to drive new travel business

Two North West entrepreneurs have announced a partnership to scale up newly-founded travel business Travel Seen.

Jennifer Atkinson, former CEO of Chester-based ITC Travel Group, has joined forces with Dez Derry, a serial entrepreneur and founder of Manchester customer acquisition specialist, Blume, to invest and grow the online travel agency.

Travel Seen was launched in 2021, founded with an initial investment from Liverpool-based PE firm Arete Capital. The ‘mass luxury’ travel agency matches holidaymakers to destinations through social media influencer content.

Atkinson, who created The Millionaires’ Holiday Club which featured on BBC2 and led a successful exit to NorthEdge Capital in 2017, said: “Creating a holiday business from scratch during a global pandemic has not been without its challenges.”

Derry, who is behind one of the UK’s leading customer acquisition specialists in the legal sector space, will continue his work with Blume, but will be joining the Travel Seen board as a founding partner, along with existing partners.

He will focus on redefining the agency’s marketing strategy and lead generation capabilities via its community of 250,000 engaged followers, as well as broadening its M&A ambitions.

He said: “I’ve well and truly laid my towel on the Travel Seen sunbed. Travel is a new industry for me, but this was a great opportunity to get my teeth into something different and draw on my lead generation and tech experience to attract new customers and expand on what Jen and the team have already set up.”

In 2022 Derry led Blume through two rounds of private equity funding, completed its first acquisition, doubled its headcount and turnover, and set out a strategic plan for turnover to reach £30m by 2024.

Last year Blume also completed a landmark deal with PE giant Sun European Partners, in a move to further accelerate its growth in the legal services market by partnering with a strong capital partner with access to more than £8bn in funds.

Since leaving the ITC Travel Group at the end of 2020, Atkinson has built a portfolio career, as a non-executive director for several North West businesses, including ACAI Outdoorwear, which recently secured investment from Growth Partners.

She said: “Travel Seen was born out of my burnout lessons. I think travel is massively important for mental health, and when holidays were taken away from us during the pandemic, it really contributed to the utter exhaustion so many felt.”

After the challenges of the pandemic she said travel is very much back, adding: “We look forward to creating something unique within the sector we both love.”