Corporate travel platform TravelPerk raises $44 million in Series C funding

Corporate travel platform TravelPerk raises $44 million in Series C funding

Start-up claims to be fastest growing European ‘software as a service’ firm Continue reading

TravelPerk, the Barcelona-based start-up TravelPerk has secured $44 million in Series C funding.

The investment comes from some of the world’s most successful technology investors including Kinnevik, Yuri Milner and Tom Stafford.

TravelPerk, which claims to be the fastest growing ‘Software as a Service’ company in Europe, said the funds will help it expand into new markets and accelerate growth.

The firm said its ambition is to become the world’s leading corporate travel platform by bringing consumer-grade technology and access to product to the business traveller.

TravelPerk chief executive Avi Meir said: “We believe business travel should be as simple as personal travel – if not easier.

“As businesses grow beyond borders, organising trips is one of the most painful and unnecessary obstacles they face to expanding.

“TravelPerk is breaking new ground to propel business travel into the 21st century, disrupting a mammoth and outdated $1.3 trillion market – ensuring distance is never a barrier to future growth.

“We are proud to have the backing of investors with a unique track record of supporting other market disruptors that have transformed entire industries.”

The latest funding round was also supported by existing investors Felix Capital, Target Global, Spark Capital, LocalGlobe, Suntone and Amplo, who back market-changing unicorns including Slack, Trello, Farfetch, Deliveroo and Delivery Hero.

Since being founded in 2015 by Meir and CPO Javier Suarez, TravelPerk has increased revenues by 700% growth year on year, and has now raised nearly $75 million in total.

The new funding will enable TravelPerk to expand into new markets, enlarge its client base by working more with small enterprises and augment its technology offering including integrating travel and expenses management into the platform.

Having tripled the size of its team in the past year, TravelPerk is opening its first office in the UK, and is soon also to build bases in Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris.

The UK business travel market was worth $50 billion in 2017, and this initial investment will allow TravelPerk to simplify travel for customers such as Aesop, Bowers & Wilkins, Adyen and Farfetch.

Chris Bischoff, senior investment director at Kinnevik, said: “We are excited to invest in TravelPerk, a company that fits perfectly into our investment thesis of using technology to offer customers more and much better choice.

“Booking corporate travel is unnecessarily time-consuming, expensive and burdensome compared to leisure travel.

“Avi and team have capitalised on this opportunity to build the leading European challenger by focusing on a product-led solution, and we look forward to supporting their future growth.”

TravelPerk’s platform has been built to simplify the process of booking and managing a business trip, the company claiming a three to four hour process can take just 10 minutes.

It claims to offer the world’s largest bookable travel inventory from providers like Expedia, Booking.com and Aribnb and tools to compare, book and invoice travel.

TravelPerk cited a Global Business Travel Association survey which found 50% of business travel happens outside of company policy.

It added this is often because existing platforms are outdated, can’t offer the choice or prices of consumer sites, and require travel managers and finance teams to endure multiple platforms, emails and calls back and forth to manage a single trip – costing companies valuable time and money, while frustrating employees and preventing growth.