Supermodel Martha Hunt swam with orcas and Chanel Iman vacationed in Mykonos, trips curated through digital concierge service Velocity Black. And while those experiences may seem to cater to the one percent, the company’s CEO claims his service aims to democratize access to such extravagant, personalized events. “A lot of the most cutting-edge luxurious technology started as high-end technology,” Zia Yusuf told Cheddar. “Uber started with Uber Black in the Valley and then LA, and it was high-end cars.” Yusuf calls Velocity Black a technology company, saying it aggregates data in the cloud to bring people personalized services at a moment’s notice. The firm has secured more than $22 million in funding. But the company has also come under fire for its customer acquisition strategy. A Business Insider report over the summer suggested that celebrity “influencers” didn’t properly disclose they’d been gifted the $2,400 annual membership fee in exchange for promoting the service to their millions of followers. Yusuf, though, touts his company’s transparency and says that most of Velocity Black’s clientele is reference-based. “We get more new members now through our existing customers recommending it to their friends - pure word-of-mouth - than anyone else,” he said. For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/booking-extravagant-experiences).

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