Nomade Nation, the 'startup' that wants to conquer travelers with its comfort 'campers'

"Sleeping in nature had never been so comfortable." This is how Nomade Nation presents its four models of camper vans, designed prioritizing comfort while optimizing space. The company, which customizes the campers through a digitized purchase and management process, expects to bill two million euros this year, and become profitable next year, as explained by its CEO and founder, Ignasi Ribó.

The origin of the company dates back to 2022, when the effects of the pandemic were subsiding and when Ribó noted that the camper market was gaining weight. "We found that it was a very undigitized sector and that it had the same designs from an aesthetic point of view for 20 years; the sector had not evolved, the brands were the same, without any love brand," according to Ribó.

In this context, the company was born with the aim of "encompassing a nation of nomads and bringing fresh air to this sector." And it did so by focusing not on camper lovers, but on people like Ribó, who saw attraction in the concept but was not a user. "The opportunity is not in the million people who like it, but in the 46 million who don't. The goal is how to bring this way of traveling closer to more people and make them see it as something viable and comfortable, and not as a stopper."

With this objective, Nomade Nation has explored new designs and has opted for the digitalization of its vans. To boost the business and check its viability, Ribó did a test with renders and Wallapop: he created rendered designs and published them on the platform and, after finding buyers, looked for a company to produce them. Afterwards, he launched a financing round with which he raised 250,000 euros, which he then complemented with two more rounds, of 650,000 and 850,000 euros. He closed the latter at the beginning of July, led by Ok Ventures. Linked to the vacation car rental manager Ok Mobility, Nomade Nation aspires for it to become a strategic partner to boost rental fleets of its vehicles.

With the aim of expanding "control over the product and over manufacturing times and margins," the company last year went from producing externally to doing so directly, through its factory in Sabadell. In it, they install pre-designed and customized models in certain van models, a process in which half of the company's staff, made up of a total of 20 employees, works.

Recently, the factory has been expanded with the adjoining premises, with the intention of converting it into a second line to produce the new model that will be launched next year. With this expansion, in addition, the company plans to increase the production rate, going from between four and five vehicles per month to between eight and nine by the end of this year.

This increase responds to the growing demand of the startup: the first year it produced 13 vans, while in 2023 it sold 35, and this year it expects to be between 50 and 70. "Now we have production covered until November," highlights Ribó. In addition to operating through orders, the startup is now betting on the distribution of its campers in strategically located dealerships nationwide, specifically in Madrid, Euskadi, Zaragoza, Valencia and Asturias: "We want to take our campers to all corners of the country, and start the internationalization of the brand in 2025." Ribó, who started in the world of entrepreneurship while studying cinema at Escac, sets himself a challenge: "To be the reference brand when thinking about traveling the world on wheels."