Coming Off a Year of Tremendous Growth, Outdoorsy Hires Ex-eBay and Upwork Engineering Leader as Chief Technology Officer

Han Yuan joins the company to catalyze product innovation and drive new category growth

Key takeaways:

• On the heels of the company achieving profitability and hitting a 175% multi-year growth rate, Han Yuan will accelerate Outdoorsy as a leader in the outdoor travel and hospitality industry
• Han Yuan will also lead innovation for the company's insurtech, Roamly, as it expands into new marketplaces and develops proprietary services to support the company's fast-growing ecosystem

SILICON VALLEY, Calif., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Outdoorsy Holdings, the leading online marketplace for outdoor travel and hospitality, today announced that Han Yuan has joined the company as Chief Technology Officer. The move comes on the heels of what has been another record year for Outdoorsy. This year alone, the company experienced skyrocketing growth from its proprietary insurtech, Roamly, and launched Outdoorsy Stays in California, Texas, and Colorado. It also launched campground properties in California and Colorado and a glamping retreat in the Texas Hill Country.

With an impressive tenure leading engineering and product teams across marketplaces, e-commerce, Saas, and consumer internet, Yuan has guided high-profile tech companies into periods of rapid development and growth including Upwork's successful IPO in 2018. In 2024, Yuan will lead Outdoorsy's ambitious vision to elevate the platform to new heights as it works to further open up access to unique outdoor experiences and become an established household name in the travel and hospitality industry.

Yuan will also lead technology innovation for Outdoorsy's proprietary insurtech Roamly as it continues its rapid growth and expands into new markets, adding services and technologies to support the company's multi-faceted ecosystem.

Outdoorsy, which achieved profitability in 2023, is currently pacing at a 175% multi-year growth rate and on pace to exceed $3 billion in transactions in 2024. The company recently celebrated 1 million trips — and over 7 million booked travel days — in June. Roamly is currently growing more than 100% YoY, with over $54 million in written premium on its platform. Roamly recently launched Roamly RAC™ , its open API platform to power marketplaces, enterprises, RV, and boat dealerships and insurance carriers who seek a fully digital insurance product suite to bring to their consumer markets.

"Han is a seasoned consumer tech executive who will add to the advancement of our developing ecosystem as we lead into market expansion and the upward trajectory of the open platform we've brought to market with Roamly," said Outdoorsy's CEO Jeff Cavins.

Prior to joining Outdoorsy, Yuan served as the Chief Product and Technology Officer at Recharge, a premier subscription commerce engine for the Shopify platform. He previously led engineering at Upwork, where he managed a 300-plus engineering team through the company's IPO in 2018. He has also led engineering and product teams at both early-stage and Fortune 500 companies such as Netflix and eBay. Yuan's tenure as group CTO and director of mobile product and engineering at eBay and as director of mobile product and engineering at Netflix was spent on the launch and innovation of mobile applications and services that have come to define eBay and Netflix, and have generated billions of dollars in transactions and billions of hours of customer engagement.

"It's an exciting moment in time to join Outdoorsy and I'm looking forward to building solutions that bridge the gap between its digital and physical domains," said Yuan. "As a leader in tech, it's critical to believe in the unlocked and unseen potential of the product you're building. It's equally as important to have a strong support system, as I do from the Outdoorsy engineering team, to test, fail, learn, and thrive in our pursuit to bring ambitious projects to life." 

Founded in 2015, Outdoorsy Holdings has evolved from a fast-growing peer-to-peer RV rental marketplace into a powerful ecosystem designed to transform how a traveler accesses – and enjoys – the outdoors. In 2023, Outdoorsy was honored to be recognized as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America on the Inc. 5000 list and ranked in Fast Company's 'Most Innovative Companies' list, earning the No. 4 spot in travel.

"Under Han's leadership, we will invest in accelerating our innovation through cross-platform applications and services and mobile product development," Cavins said. "I am confident that Han's vision and experience will bring out the best work in our team and deliver exceptional experiences to our guests and partners."

About Outdoorsy Holdings Inc.
Since 2015, Outdoorsy Holdings has pioneered access to the outdoors by creating the world's leading outdoor travel ecosystem. Millions of guests trust Outdoorsy to help them create lifelong family memories and partners rely on their products and innovations to grow their businesses and provide life changing sources of revenue. Outdoorsy's businesses include Outdoorsy.com, the largest outdoor travel and hospitality marketplace; the Outdoorsy Destination Network, a portfolio of campgrounds and glamping retreats in the backyard of our nation's most beautiful landscapes; Roamly, its proprietary insurtech that underpins Outdoorsy.com and serves as a transformative insurance platform to power global marketplaces. Outdoorsy's businesses are united by a long-term mission to restore our relationship with the outdoors, and each other.

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SOURCE Outdoorsy