Polarsteps (www.polarsteps.com) automatically tracks travelers’ route and places they've visited during their trip. Once connected to the internet, the app seamlessly transfers travel routes, key locations and photos to their personal Polarsteps page, where the route is plotted on a colorful world map that can be shared with close friends and family. The app uses advanced technologies to enable travelers to track their routes without internet or GPS, and to prevent battery drain.

“Just before heading off to a transatlantic sailing trip I created a small app that enabled me - through the use of a satellite phone - to log and share my route with friends and family at home”, says founder Niek Bokkers. “During the trip the concept went viral among fellow travelers, who loved the approach of telling their travel story on a stunning map and sharing it real-time with their loved ones at home. We decided to further develop it into an app for all travelers that helps them to automatically track and share their adventures in an easy and beautiful way.”

“It’s been less than a year since we launched the first beta version of our iPhone app, and we’ve already acquired a very active user base”, says founder Koen Droste. “We are receiving requests for an Android version on a daily basis and this funding will allow us to launch on Android as well as to further develop our iPhone app." Polarsteps also plans to start experimenting with monetization models around trip planning and printed photo albums. "We believe that the current online travel experience is utterly broken”, says Droste. “Did you know the average traveler visits over 40 websites before booking a trip? We want to fix this by bringing travel planning, tracking and remembering into one unified experience.”

Droste is excited about the combination between Silver Point Ventures and TMG: “Silver Point Ventures has an extensive and profound background in e-commerce, which is very valuable for our monetization plans. Because we see media partnerships as a key pillar of our growth strategy, having TMG on board as an investor allows us to experiment with this in The Netherlands”, says Droste.

Silver Point Ventures is the investment fund of internet entrepreneur Jorrit Steinz. “There is a lot of room for innovation in the online travel experience”, says Steinz. “Though Polarsteps is still in beta, its innovative product and initial user adoption demonstrates strong growth prospects. I look forward to playing a role in driving its development from the early stage phase to the next level.”

TMG (Telegraaf Media Groep N.V.) is one of the largest news media companies in the Netherlands, featuring well-known consumer brands such as De Telegraaf, Skyradio, Radio Veronica, Metro, Dumpert and Upcoming. TMG was already involved with Polarsteps through a previous investment.

As a result of the investment, Polarsteps will expand its team and move into a new office in Amsterdam.