Skyscanner attracts investment from US venture capital firm

Flight search company Skyscanner has attracted investment from a US venture capital firm in a deal that values it at $800 million.

Flight search company Skyscanner has attracted investment from a US venture capital firm in a deal that values it at $800 million.

Sequoia Capital did not disclose further details of its new investment.

But chairman Michael Moritz called Skyscanner the “most attractive tech company in Europe,” citing the expected growth in online travel search.

“We’re still quite early in the evolution of online travel,” said Moritz, who will join the company’s board.

“Despite…[the] large number of existing online travel vendors, the market over the next decade will expand enormously, accelerated by a proliferation of mobile devices.”

Moritz said the Edinburgh-based company’s global approach made it an attractive deal.

“From inception they were forced to look beyond their home borders to grow their business,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “US companies, because the market is so large, take time before they expand beyond their borders.”

Skyscanner recently set up an office in Miami to bolster its business in the Americas. It also has satellite offices in Singapore and Beijing. The profitable company was founded in 2001 and released its first mobile app in 2011.

The company raised a $5.1 million Series A round funding in 2007 from Scottish Equity Partners.