Slow Cabins

Sober but sleekly designed eco-houses, away from civilisation, without television, water, electricity or wifi: for several years, Antwerp entrepreneur Xavier Leclair has been putting them up in idyllic locations in Belgium and the Netherlands. The cabins are portable and completely self-sufficient. Solar panels, battery systems, a dry toilet and a water tank with filtered rainwater make it possible to live for a few days with minimal impact on nature.

Financing mix

Those who rent a cottage receive the exact location two weeks before departure. The concept is – as it is abroad – a success. This was more than reconfirmed during the corona crisis with a tripling of bookings. A lot of people turned out to need to do nothing at all for once and completely unwind. A place close to home in the countryside was suddenly more than popular with city dwellers. They used to think nothing of staying in a forest or by a fishpond when they could fly to Barcelona for next to nothing. Slow Cabins created new locations in Flanders and the Netherlands. Despite the hefty price tag, they get booked up quickly. PMV granted Cofinancing in 2020 as part of a wider funding mix. But the concept is also appealing to private investors.

Community

Slow Cabins raised more than half a million euros through WinWinner loans last year. To do so, besides a large community of past guests, it called on the crowdlending platform WinWinner, which achieved a new record with the moveable cabins campaign: 110,500 euros of investment in a single day. With the funding round, Xavier Leclairde’s company aims to further finance international growth. Incidentally, Leclair was not the only one to seek funding for his business through Winwin Loans in 2021. In 2021, more than 1,500 entrepreneurs knocked on WinWinner’s door to start a crowdlending campaign. Together, they raised around 9 million euros in Flanders, three times more than in 2020. Young people in particular appear to be investing through the platform.