TripActions Raises $51 Million Series B for Its Business Travel Service
Skift Take
Talk about using incentives to change behavior. Is the threat of obsolescence due to new technology and startup business models enough to prompt incumbent travel management companies such as Egencia and Carlson Wagonlit to adapt?
It didn't take long for another major example to pop up in the news to illustrate one of Skift's 2018 Megatrends: "Startups Go Direct to Consumers in Battle for Business Travelers."
On Wednesday, TripActions, a business travel startup, said it closed a $51 million Series B funding round.
Businesses hire TripActions to run their travel programs, and the startup rewards employees with Amazon gift cards or credits for personal vacation if the workers book cheaper travel than they might have otherwise.
Lightspeed Venture Partners and Zeev Ventures led the round. The investment brings the total capital raised to nearly $80 million.
The Palo Alto, California–based startup, which has 120 employees, will partly use the funding to open an office in London. It will also use the funding to increase the size of its technical and customer support teams at an average rate of five employees a week through the spring.
“We have been blown away by the pace of growth we’ve seen at TripActions with rapid adoption from mid-market companies and small businesses alike," said Arif Janmohamed, a partner at Lightspeed.
Janmohamed isn't joking. TripActions makes some bold claims about its success since it launched its services in 2016. The most eye-catching claim from is that it has never lost a customer in the past 18 months, meaning none have tried the service and switched back to the travel management company it had been previously using.
The company claims that the number of customers and travelers under management doubled every quarter in 2017.
It also claims that 97 percent of travelers at companies that adopt its solutio
