Cumbrian adventure travel firm Kandoo gets £500K buyout boost
What's the deal? Kandoo Adventures, a high-altitude adventure travel company based in Penrith, Cumbria, has secured £500,000 in funding to support a management buyout. Sam Holland, the firm's general manager of six years, and incoming director Gareth O'Rourke have bought the business from its French parent company.
The investment came from NPIF II – FW CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Debt Finance, part of the £660M Northern Powerhouse Investment FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → II (NPIF II), which provides loans and equity to small and medium-sized businesses across northern England.
Why now? Kandoo Adventures has built a 16-year track record as an ABTA- and ATOL-registered provider of adventure travel across 23 worldwide destinations — including treks to Mount Kilimanjaro, Everest base camp, Machu Picchu, and Aconcagua. The buyout keeps the business rooted in Cumbria while giving its new owners freedom to pursue expansion plans.
"This is the perfect mix which will help us to move the business during its next level of growth," said O'Rourke. "We have significant plans moving forward to expand our range of destinations."
Holland added that the firm will continue operating from its Penrith retail front and safeguard all existing jobs.
What could go wrong? Adventure travel is exposed to geopolitical instability, climate disruption, and shifting consumer spending habits. Scaling a niche operator into "one of the UK's leading adventure travel businesses" — as the new owners intend — requires navigating fierce competition from larger, better-capitalised rivals.
The signal: Dealroom classifies Kandoo Adventures as an "early growth" stage company, and this buyout illustrates how public-backed regional vehicles such as NPIF II — managed through FW Capital's debt finance arm — are filling a gap for sub-£1M deals that most private lenders overlook. For the new owners, the real test will be whether a niche, purpose-driven operator can scale its 23-destination portfolio fast enough to capitalise on rising consumer demand for experiential travel before larger incumbents crowd the space.
Read more: businesscrack.co.uk
