Travel search website GoEuro has attracted an unspecified multi-million dollar investment from global investment group Lakestar.
GoEuro attracts multi-million dollar investment
Travel search website GoEuro has attracted an unspecified multi-million dollar investment from global investment group Lakestar.
Former American Express global business travel president Charles Petruccelli is also supporting the company as a new investor.
He joins Dave Baggett, co-founder and ex-COO of ITA Software, and John Owen, former CFO and founding team member of JetBlue Airways, in backing the online European travel planning site.
The Lakestar investment, following an initial seed round of more than $4 million, will be used to accelerate its expansion into seven markets by the summer.
GoEuro claims significant growth since its launch last summer, expanding from Germany into the UK and Spain, offering air, rail and coach coverage in all three countries.
The company has signed a number of agreements with partners such as National Express in the UK and Renfe in Spain.
The company is also exiting from beta in its existing markets.
GoEuro now features 150 airports, 12,900 rail, and 8,500 bus stations, serving almost 23,000 unique locations in the UK, Spain and Germany.
More than 10,000 of these unique locations have featured in customer search results in the first six months since its launch, demonstrating the desire of users to embrace local travel search beyond just airports.
Chief executive Naren Shaam said: “The Lakestar team brings to the company a strong background of B2C investment history and know-how including the likes of Airbnb, Spotify, Skype and Klarna.
“It is a vote of confidence not only for GoEuro but for the multi-mode travel space as a whole.”
Shaam added: “Online travel has traditionally been dominated by websites focused on air, hotel and car rental, but the growing capability of rail and bus operators has opened the door to platforms which compare and combine rail, coach and air travel on one site.
“As a result, fully localised and natural search has become a reality and we’re confident GoEuro will be at the forefront of this market.
“We’ve seen tremendous acceptance from our customers in all three countries, with particularly strong growth over recent months in the UK and our newest market, Spain.”
Lakestar partner Klaus Hommels said: “When I first met the GoEuro team, I was amazed at their ability to build relationships with large organisations that historically have not given out proprietary information.
“By building these relationships, they are breaking down a huge barrier to entry and making themselves the market leader by quite a distance. We feel very positive about GoEuro as it joins our portfolio of investments in extremely innovative companies.”
