BATON ROUGE – Mallard Bay, a Baton Rouge-based online marketplace for hunting and fishing adventures, announces the closure of a $4.6 million Series A funding round. Led by Soul Venture Partners, the round also saw follow-on investments from existing investor Acadian Capital Ventures, of Lafayette, along with contributions from a variety of new and existing angel investors.
Mallard Bay Outdoors is an online marketplace where outdoor enthusiasts can browse and book guided hunting and fishing trips with vetted outfitters and charters. The marketplace drives bookings for guides, charter captains and outfitter owners while providing an OpenTable-style booking experience for adventure seekers.
The company was founded by Logan Meaux, Joel Moreau, Tam Nguyen and Wyatt Mallett. The partners dreamed up the idea while attending Louisiana State University. Since launching in late 2021, Mallard Bay has partnered with more than 350 charters and outfitters offering hundreds of guided experiences across 38 states and seven countries. The list spans 38 states and seven countries, and it includes Cadillac Creek Outfitters and Buffalo Nickel Lodge.
The company aims to address the challenges faced by outfitters, offering online booking management, a calendar system, and “frictionless” payment collection.
A spokesperson said Mallard Bay has experienced “remarkable growth” over the past year and anticipates the new funding will further accelerate this upward trajectory. In January 2024, the company’s transaction volume surpassed the total transaction volume recorded in the entire year of 2022 and almost all of Q1 2023. Throughout 2023, Mallard Bay marked a 600% year-over-year growth rate. It generated more than $8 million in total trip bookings over the past two seasons, and it has facilitated experiences for more than 4,500 people over the past two seasons.
“As passionate sportsmen and women ourselves, we’re thrilled about this funding milestone for Mallard Bay,” said Logan Meaux, CEO of Mallard Bay, in a press release. “Our leading SaaS GuideTech product is revolutionizing the outdoor experiences industry, simplifying the process of booking hunting and fishing trips for both outfitters and enthusiasts. We recognized a need for improvement in this area, and we’re grateful for the support of our investors, including Soul Venture Partners and Acadian Ventures. With this Series A funding, we’re poised to spearhead further innovation in the outfitting industry,”
“We’re pleased to announce our partnership with Mallard Bay, recognizing their significant impact in the outdoor experiences sector,” said Prasanth Chilukuri, managing partner of Soul Venture Partners. “Through their innovative SaaS technology, GuideTech, Mallard Bay has effectively addressed key challenges for outfitters, enhancing bookings and operational efficiency. Positioned uniquely, Mallard Bay is poised to lead the way in the hunting and fishing market, shaping the future of outdoor adventures,”
Several of the founders of Mallard Bay were also early Waitr team members. Waitr is the startup from Louisiana started by Mallard Bay co-founder and CEO Logan Meaux’s father Chris Meaux, who is now the chairman of Mallard Bay.
This Series A funding round follows the $1.8 million funding round in 2022 led mostly by angel investors and other major investors such as The Softeq Venture Studio, the Callais family, Varco Investments and the Rio Grande Valley Angel Network. It also follows the founders’ win in the 2022 Rice Business Plan Competition, an international student startup competition, where the team won more than $200,000 – the fourth most in investments and prizes – while some of them were still students at LSU. The co-founders also found early success as top-three finishers in the J Terrell Brown Venture Challenge at Louisiana State University – a campus-wide business-plan competition.
Editor’s note: All the achievements and metrics described in this article were provided by a spokesperson for Mallard Bay.
