There are moments when a start-up grows up. For Parkn'Sleep it was the evening when founders Lukas Imhof and Adam Opuchlik from Küssnacht am Rigi stood in the spotlight of «Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz», the Swiss version of Dragons' Den, and the even more remarkable moment afterwards, when they turned down the TV deal they had won. Here is the whole story.
The pitch: freedom meets outdated structures
«As nature-loving campers, all you want is to just hit the road,» Lukas Imhof opened his presentation to the investors. The reality is different, he said: the unchecked camping boom is colliding with outdated structures. If you do not book well in advance, you end up on overcrowded municipal car parks, and often the only option left for municipalities is a camping ban. The duo's answer: a web app that connects campers with official hosts and shows live where pitches are available. Their offer to the lions: ten percent of the company for 350,000 francs to fund expansion into Europe.
«Not enough meat on the bone», or simply a miscalculation?
At the time of the recording, Parkn'Sleep had 800 pitch providers, around 2,000 individual pitches in Switzerland and 17,000 registered campers. Investor Anja Graf did the maths and, together with Jürg Schwarzenbach, pulled out with the verdict «not enough meat on the bone». The twist: after the broadcast, sharp-eyed viewers on social media revealed that the investor had simply got her sums wrong, forgetting revenue and massively underestimating the potential. The comment that stuck: «If you can count, you have a clear advantage in the lions' cage.»
Two offers, one deal, and a plot twist
Two lions were not put off anyway: Roland Brack offered the 350,000 francs for 15 percent, Lukas Speiser for 13. The founders chose Brack, whose network tipped the balance, and his parting line made the headline: «From now on I'm only going camping.» But then came the twist: during the investment process after the show, the chance of a crowdinvesting campaign came up, and the community delivered. Within four weeks, 350,000 francs came together from many small investors, for the ten percent the founders had originally asked for. The founders decided against the one big TV lion, and in favour of hundreds of mini lions from their own community.
Today: a company owned by its fans
Meanwhile, 25 percent of the company's shares have been digitised and are publicly traded. This is made possible by the Swiss DLT Act of 2021: the Parkn'Sleep share exists as a ledger-based security on the Ethereum blockchain (ERC-20 standard), tokenised by aktionariat.com, and can be bought and sold directly via the website, from 249 francs. The idea behind it is the same as at the very beginning: anyone who uses and loves the platform should be able to share in its success.
🦁 Want to become a co-owner? You will find all the information on the digital shares at parknsleep.com/investieren, and the TV episode plus a look behind the scenes in the video on our channels.
Adapted from the Parkn'Sleep company blog, based on the article in «Freier Schweizer». Figures refer to the time of the TV recording. This article is not investment advice; buying shares involves risks.
