Hipcamp
Corporate brand
UnclaimedAn online marketplace for booking campsites, RV sites, glamping stays, and private-land outdoor experiences.
Last updated August 22, 2026
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Overview
Hipcamp is an American outdoor-accommodation marketplace that connects campers and travelers with public campgrounds, private landowners, RV parks, camping resorts, and operators of distinctive outdoor lodging. Customers use its website and mobile application to discover and reserve tent sites, RV spaces, cabins, glamping units, and other stays according to location, landscape, activities, and amenities. Hosts can list available land or facilities, describe the experience, manage availability, and receive bookings through the platform. The company was founded in 2013 by Alyssa Ravasio after she struggled to find an available campsite near Big Sur, California. The initial concept was to make fragmented campsite-availability information easier to search in one place. Ravasio taught herself software development through Dev Bootcamp in San Francisco and launched the first version of Hipcamp during the same year. Rather than functioning solely as a conventional campground operator, Hipcamp developed as a two-sided marketplace combining discovery, reservations, and host participation. Hipcamp's inventory spans conventional public and commercial campgrounds as well as more distinctive forms of outdoor accommodation. Listings may be searchable by natural setting, such as a beach, forest, waterfall, or mountain area; by activities, including hiking, cycling, fishing, and climbing; and by practical amenities such as vehicle access, toilets, showers, hookups, or pet policies. This breadth positions the service between campground reservation systems, short-term accommodation marketplaces, and travel-discovery products. Hipcamp raised a reported $2 million seed round in September 2014. The financing was led by O'Reilly Media's AlphaTech Ventures and Slow Ventures, with participation from several individual and syndicate investors. The business later expanded beyond the United States through acquisitions of camping platforms in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These transactions broadened Hipcamp's geographic coverage and added specialist inventory in private-land camping, glamping, RV resorts, and holiday parks. The COVID-19 pandemic increased interest in outdoor recreation and domestic travel. Hipcamp reported that it generated three times as many leads during the summer of 2020 as during the comparable period in 2019. The company continued expanding its marketplace after the pandemic period. In May 2025, it announced that the platform had reached approximately 565,000 available campsites after adding thousands of RV parks, camping resorts, and public-land listings. Hipcamp therefore operates as a technology-enabled outdoor-stay marketplace whose value depends on the breadth and quality of its inventory, the usability of its search and booking tools, and relationships with landowners and campground operators.
History
Hipcamp emerged from a practical problem identified by founder Alyssa Ravasio. In 2013, while trying to arrange a camping trip near Big Sur, California, Ravasio found that campsite information and availability were difficult to locate in a unified, convenient form. She conceived a service that would aggregate outdoor-stay information and make it searchable for travelers. To build the product, she attended Dev Bootcamp, a 12-week coding program in San Francisco, and launched the first version of Hipcamp in 2013. The early service focused on improving the discovery of public campgrounds and campsite availability. It subsequently developed into a broader marketplace in which landowners, campground operators, and other accommodation providers could list sites directly. The model allowed users to search according to geography, landscape, activities, and amenities rather than relying only on campground names or administrative reservation systems. This helped distinguish Hipcamp from a narrow public-campground directory and gave it a role in the discovery and booking of private outdoor spaces. In September 2014, Hipcamp announced a $2 million seed financing round. The round was led by O'Reilly Media's AlphaTech Ventures and Slow Ventures, with participation from Dave Morin, Sam Shank, Gregg Brockway, AngelList's Syndicate Fund, and Maiden Lane Ventures. The investment supported the development of the marketplace and its inventory of bookable outdoor locations. Hipcamp's offering expanded to include tent camping, RV spaces, glamping, and other distinctive stays. Listings could be filtered by natural features such as beaches, waterfalls, forests, and mountains, as well as by activities such as biking, hiking, and rock climbing. The platform also provided practical information about amenities and access, making it useful both for conventional camping trips and for travelers seeking less traditional outdoor accommodation. The COVID-19 pandemic became an important demand inflection point. With international travel restricted and many consumers seeking relatively isolated forms of recreation, outdoor stays attracted greater attention. Hipcamp reported that its summer 2020 lead volume was three times that of 2019. The period reinforced the company's role in domestic and nature-oriented travel, although the available reference material does not establish a complete financial performance record. Hipcamp pursued international growth through acquisitions. In 2020 it acquired Youcamp in Australia, a platform associated with private-land camping. In 2021 it acquired Pitched, a Canadian online camping marketplace. In 2023 it acquired Cool Camping in the United Kingdom, adding a platform known for camping and glamping content and inventory. In 2024 it acquired BookOutdoors in the United States, strengthening its position in RV resorts and holiday-park reservations. Together, these transactions expanded the range of markets and accommodation types represented in the Hipcamp ecosystem. By May 2025, Hipcamp stated that its marketplace had reached approximately 565,000 available campsites after the addition of thousands of RV parks, camping resorts, and public-land listings. The company remains an active digital marketplace whose business depends on attracting travelers, recruiting and supporting hosts, maintaining reliable availability information, and making outdoor accommodation easier to discover and reserve.
- 2025
Marketplace reaches approximately 565,000 campsites
[1]Hipcamp announced that its inventory had doubled to approximately 565,000 available campsites through additions including RV parks, camping resorts, and public-land listings.
- 2024
BookOutdoors acquisition
[1]Hipcamp acquired BookOutdoors, adding expertise and inventory in RV resorts and holiday parks.
- 2023
UK expansion through Cool Camping
[1]Hipcamp acquired the United Kingdom camping and glamping platform Cool Camping.
- 2021
Canadian expansion through Pitched
[1]Hipcamp acquired Canadian camping marketplace Pitched.
- 2020
Australian expansion through Youcamp
[1]The company acquired Australian camping platform Youcamp, broadening its international and private-land camping operations.
- 2014
Seed financing
[1]Hipcamp raised a reported $2 million seed round led by AlphaTech Ventures and Slow Ventures, joined by other investors.
- 2013
Hipcamp is founded and launches its first platform
[1]Alyssa Ravasio founded Hipcamp after difficulty finding campsite availability near Big Sur. She learned software development through Dev Bootcamp and launched the initial service during the year.
Products and positioning
A broad outdoor-stay marketplace that combines campground reservations with private-land camping, RV inventory, glamping, and experience-oriented discovery.
Camping reservations · 2013
Tent campsites
Hipcamp's core marketplace includes tent sites on public campgrounds and private land. Users can search by location, setting, activities, and amenities, then review listing information and reserve an available site through the website or mobile application.
RV accommodation
RV sites and parks
The platform lists RV spaces, RV parks, camping resorts, and related holiday-park inventory. Search and listing information may cover vehicle access, hookups, facilities, and other practical requirements relevant to recreational-vehicle travelers.
Outdoor lodging
Glamping and unique stays
Hipcamp supports bookings for glamping units, cabins, and other distinctive outdoor accommodations. These listings extend the service beyond conventional tent camping and appeal to travelers seeking nature-based stays with additional shelter or amenities.
Land-based outdoor experiences
Private-land camping
Landowners can offer camping on private property through Hipcamp. This supply model expands the number and variety of places available to travelers while giving participating landowners a marketplace channel for making selected outdoor spaces bookable.
Marketplace services · 2013
Host listing and booking tools
Hipcamp provides the marketplace infrastructure through which campground operators and landowners present sites, describe amenities and activities, manage availability, and receive reservations from users searching on the platform.
Brand decisions
2025
Double marketplace inventoryStrategyBackground
Hipcamp continued expanding beyond individual private-land listings into RV parks, camping resorts, and public-land inventory.
Action taken
The company added thousands of listings and reported approximately 565,000 campsites available through its website and mobile application.
Aftermath
The expansion increased the scale and category breadth of the marketplace, although the available material does not provide a separate financial result for the initiative.
2024
Acquire BookOutdoorsM&ABackground
Hipcamp sought to broaden its United States inventory in RV resorts and holiday parks.
Action taken
Hipcamp acquired BookOutdoors, a booking platform focused on RV resorts and holiday parks.
Aftermath
The deal added specialized RV and resort inventory to Hipcamp's marketplace.
2023
Acquire Cool Camping in the United KingdomM&ABackground
Hipcamp continued its geographic expansion while increasing its exposure to glamping and curated camping inventory.
Action taken
Hipcamp acquired Cool Camping, a UK camping and glamping platform.
Aftermath
The acquisition strengthened Hipcamp's UK operations and added camping and glamping supply and expertise.
2021
Acquire Pitched in CanadaM&ABackground
Hipcamp continued building an international camping marketplace through acquisitions of regional platforms.
Action taken
The company acquired Pitched, a Canadian online camping-marketplace startup.
Aftermath
The transaction expanded Hipcamp's Canadian presence and added local marketplace capabilities.
2020
Acquire Youcamp to expand into AustraliaM&ABackground
Hipcamp sought international growth and greater access to private-land camping inventory during a period when outdoor and domestic travel were becoming especially important.
Action taken
Hipcamp acquired Youcamp, an Australian camping platform focused on private-land camping.
Aftermath
The acquisition gave Hipcamp an entry point into the Australian market and broadened its international marketplace footprint.
Recent events
Reported
Hipcamp finalizes $57 million Series C funding[3]
Hipcamp finalized a $57 million Series C funding round, according to The Information.
Reported
Hipcamp acquired Youcamp[4]
Hipcamp said it had acquired Youcamp. The companies did not disclose the deal value, and Youcamp's brand will fade while most of its employees will stay.
Sources4 sources
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