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Peek

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The profile

Peek, a San Francisco maker of booking software for tour and activity operators, told those operators in April 2020 to apply for PPP loans "through our partner Womply." It borrowed too: SBA's data record two PPP loans to Peek Travel, Inc., $3,370,340 in April 2020 and $1,999,950 in January 2021, and forgiveness of $3,258,949.12 and $2,015,292.08.

  • Category: travel and hospitality
  • Pandemic layoffs: a mass layoff in March 2020, 45 employees reported, mostly business roles in Salt Lake City (Layoffs.fyi)
  • Last updated: 2026-09-29

In the archive

Founders, executives and investors

Ruzwana Bashir is Peek's co-founder and chief executive. Oskar Bruening was co-founder and chief technology officer in April 2020.

Peek's $80 million Series C, announced November 16, 2021, was led by WestCap, the growth-equity firm of former Airbnb and Blackstone executive Laurence A. Tosi, with Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Earlier investors named in that release include Jack Dorsey, Eric Schmidt, Kayak founder Paul English and Cathay Innovation. The $70 million Series D of November 2025 was led by Springcoast Partners.

Business before the pandemic

Peek, based in San Francisco, combines business software with a consumer marketplace for "fun things to do (think: wine tours, watersports, skydiving, and art classes)," in its own description. Peek Pro supplies online booking, point-of-sale and automation tools such as inventory management, dynamic pricing, waivers and marketing analytics.

Pandemic-relief role: a referral channel for PPP loans

On April 9, 2020, Peek announced a partnership with Womply, which it described as "a registered loan agent" working with SBA-approved banks. The partnership was to help tour and activity operators prepare PPP applications, collect documents in advance and "save their place in line with SBA-approved lenders." Peek said the two companies had "over 100 representatives dedicated to helping millions of SMB merchants navigate the application process." "At this time, our main priority as a company is to help tour operators across the industry access the tools and capital they need to weather this unprecedented storm," Bruening said in the announcement.

Peek's loan page, posted the day before, said operators did not need to be Peek partners and answered the cost question: "It's completely free to apply." SBA's first PPP rule, published in the Federal Register on April 15, 2020, required it: "Agent fees will be paid by the lender out of the fees the lender receives from SBA." The rule barred agents from collecting fees from borrowers and capped an agent's fee at 1 percent on loans up to $350,000. The same loan page told operators who had "already reduced staff or wages" that they had "until June 30 to reverse those changes to be eligible for loan forgiveness."

Peek's operator-facing COVID-19 guide, "A Guide to Accessing and Protecting Capital," pointed customers to federal loans through partners. "If you haven't yet applied for a PPP loan, we recommend that you do so immediately through our partner Womply," it said, adding that "Womply's lenders move fast and have already been able to help businesses rejected or ignored by their bank get approved." The same page promoted a tie-up with SoFi's Lantern marketplace and summarized the agreement Congress reached on April 21, 2020, including $310 billion more for PPP and $60 billion more for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. Its list of other companies' relief included Yelp's $25 million for independent restaurants and nightlife businesses "in the form of waived advertising fees, free advertising, and products and services." The guide lists no waiver of Peek's own fees.

Cancellations: store credit in place of refunds

A March 24, 2020 post on Peek's operator blog said the virus was forcing people to cancel activities and trips, "but this doesn't mean they have to be refunded!" It told operators to offer rescheduling or store credit "in place of a refund." A May 29, 2020 reopening checklist said store credit "ensures more money stays within your business." In the Womply announcement, Peek said it was creating a dedicated team to help operators deal with "an unprecedented amount of cancellations and refunds." Its COVID-19 resources page announced "key automations" for refunds in Peek Pro and pointed furloughed staff to "flexible, convenient earnings opportunities through Peek's initiative with DoorDash."

Its own PPP loans

SBA's PPP loan data record a first-draw loan of $3,370,340 to Peek Travel, Inc. of San Francisco, approved April 15, 2020 through Harvest Small Business Finance, with 115 jobs reported and the full amount assigned to payroll. SBA recorded forgiveness of $3,258,949.12 on March 22, 2022, $111,390.88 less than the principal; the data do not give a reason. A second-draw loan of $1,999,950, approved January 23, 2021 through the same lender with 88 jobs reported, was forgiven in the amount of $2,015,292.08 on November 17, 2021. To qualify for a second draw, a borrower had to show gross receipts at least 25 percent lower in one 2020 quarter than in the same quarter of 2019, or a 25 percent drop for 2020 as a whole.

Layoffs

Layoffs.fyi reported on April 6, 2020 that Peek "conducted a mass layoff in March, according to multiple LinkedIn posts by employees," and put the count at 45 employees, mostly in business roles. How Peek handled layoffs →

After the first shock

The Series C was pitched as money "to Power the 2022 Travel Comeback." Peek said then that it "has been growing rapidly despite the global pandemic," that its platform had handled nearly $2 billion in bookings and served 35 million customers, and that it would use the capital to triple its team. "After helping thousands of travel and local businesses survive the pandemic, we've now been arming them with the digitization tools needed to scale and meet the massive demand in 2022," Bashir said. Peek's own copy of the release is dated November 16, 2021; the copy on Cathay Capital's website is dated November 23.

In June 2021 Bashir joined the board of SoFi Technologies as a nominee of SCH Sponsor. SoFi runs Lantern, the lender marketplace Peek had promoted to its operators in 2020. SoFi's 2022 proxy statement lists her 2021 director pay as $20,000 in cash and $235,553 in stock awards.

Where the company is now

Peek is a private company. On November 20, 2025 it raised $70 million and announced the acquisitions of ACME Ticketing, which sells ticketing, membership and donation systems to cultural institutions, and Connect&GO, which adds RFID-based attraction management. Peek said the deals extend its reach to more than 150 million consumers across museums, theme parks, tours and attractions, that it handles more than $1.5 billion in bookings a year and more than $7 billion in total, and that its AI pricing tool has lifted operator revenue 5% to 20%. Bashir remains chief executive.

Sources

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