Unyoked: Our story so far
From 2017 we’ve grown from one cabin to over 150 across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. Here's the story of our journey so far
We started this whole thing to scratch our own itch. We grew up all around Australia, moving each couple of years with the constant in our lives at that time being the outdoors. Fast forward to us entering modern life, working in the corporate world and we could tell something was missing.
We enjoyed our jobs, and weren’t going to go change our names to Rainbow and Oatflower, but we knew we were missing that connection with the natural world we grew up with, and knew it was contributing to our stress, anxiety and feelings of burnout.
When we looked around we saw decades of scientific evidence proving how Nature is, well, the natural antidote to modern life. We saw pockets of athletes, CEOs and creatives around the world using the outdoors for its various benefits and how it helped their daily lives, but, for some reason, most of us didn’t realise just how powerful and easy this could be.
So, we looked to create a way that people (aka us) could access nature easily and impactfully, so they could get those benefits when they really needed them, during the week, at moment’s notice, and come back to the city for that next meeting, that date, or whatever moment in life, feeling fully restored.
This was Unyoked.
Minimalist cabins, with everything you need and nothing you don’t - so the focus is on Nature. Sitting in uniquely secluded and immersive locations all tucked within easy reach of the CBD. Supported by an intentionally designed experience crafted deliberately to help our guests slow down quick and leave feeling the full impact of time off the grid.
Where We’ve Been
We slowed our pace at the beginning, knowing we wanted to build something that’d last, something that would represent the wave of change that’s leading all of us to look away from the 9-to-5 way of life and towards a more flexible way of living, one closer to nature.
We set out to build the Nike of Nature. A global category-owning lifestyle brand that represents this way of life and helps people connect with it and live it in a number of ways.
There were three core parts of this, which over the past 7 years have become our moat against all those who’ve looked to follow us since (something we’re humbled about, but remain proud how unique Unyoked remains despite the new entrants trying their best):
Brand, Experience, Operations.
We honed these three elements of our business (more of which you’ll learn about in our Offer Doc if you apply later on), and then picked up our pace of growth as the building blocks of our business became locked in.
Now at 150 cabins globally, across Australia, the UK and NZ, a consistent NPS of 70+, an occupancy figure that, despite cost-of-living pressures, outpaces comparable rates, and a brand that’s recognised across the globe (and earns us 100-300 media articles a year) we’re preparing to take the next step in our journey.
Where We’re Going
With a flagship 200 cabin contract secured and signed with the UK’s largest landowner, cabin prototypes developed that could reduce our CAPEX by 20-30%, and a pipeline full of epic locations across Australia, NZ and a new market entry location in Europe - we’re ready to take Unyoked to the next level.
Our aim is to grow to 300 cabins within the next 18-24 months, and 600 by 36-48 months from the close of our fundraising process, expected to be done by May 31 2025. This crowdfund forms a portion of that raise.
We’ll be bringing what Unyoked does best to a range of new locations as well as adding new ways for new segments of the market to access nature, like group cabins, solo person cabins, company offsites and more.
The core building blocks of the business are in place, tested at global scale, we know where we’re headed, and with Marriott’s acquisition of our US competitor Getaway in late 2024, we believe now is the time to grow and set Unyoked on its next big steps.