Cruise Agency Dreamlines Raises $55 Million: Travel Startup Funding This Week

The total publicized this week was more than $63 million. Deals below.

>>Dreamlines, an online agency focused on selling cruises, has raised $55 million in Series E funding.

Princeville Global, a venture capital firm, led the round in the Hamburg, Germany-based company, which has raised about $130 million in funding since its launch in 2012.

Past investors also participated in the latest round. These names include Holtzbrinck Ventures (HV), Target Global, Dimaventures, Hasso Plattner Ventures, TruVenturo, and Global Founders.

Dreamlines, which has more than 400 employees worldwide, offers cruises from up to 100 operators to consumers in 10 countries in the U.S. and Europe.

The tightly concentrated cruise industry has long resisted the rise of online booking platforms. But increasing demand from consumers to not have to rely on traditional travel agents may be forcing the operators to create an online ground game that includes partnerships with startups like Dreamlines.

>>Sn-ap Travel, an intercity travel startup, has raised $4.59 million (£3.4 million) in funding.

ADV and Oxford Capital led the round, which brought the total that the London-based company has raised since its founding in 2016 to about $8.1 million (£6 million).

Sn-ap matches consumers who want to go on (at least partly) overlapping itineraries with intercity coach bus operators. The company’s online booking tool aims to streamline the process of consumers requesting offers and operators setting optimal prices.

“Already live in Bristol, Cardiff, and Nottingham, the team will expand to a further four UK cities in the next five months,” a spokesperson said.

>>Travelio, a short-term rental booking platform, has raised Series A financing of $4 million.

Vynn Capital led the round in the Jakarta-based company. Insignia Ventures Partners, Fenox, IndoGen, and Stellar Kapital also participated.

Since its founding in 2015, Travelio has also raised investment of $2 million from Gobi Partners, property developer PT Surya Semesta Internusa, and angel investors.

The startup’s mobile app aims to help streamline the process of renting a property, such as viewing, appointment management, negotiations, paperwork, and payments. More broadly, the company strives to help property owners and developers lease and professionally manage their properties with a goal of helping owners avoid having properties lie vacant.

Travelio said it enables virtual-reality-camera-based search. It said it also offers reservations that are booked instantly rather than requiring a lot of back-and-forth between host and guest.

Skift Cheat Sheet:
Funding tends to come in waves. Seed capital is money used to start a business, often led by angel investors and friends or family.

Series A financing is typically drawn from venture capitalists. The round aims to help a startup’s founders make sure that their product is something that customers truly want to buy.

Series B financing is mainly about venture capitalist firms helping a company grow faster, or scale up. These fundraising rounds can help with recruiting skilled workers and developing cost-effective marketing.

Series C financing is ordinarily about helping a company expand, such as through acquisitions. In addition to VCs, hedge funds, investment banks, and private equity firms often participate.

Series D, E and beyond These mainly mature businesses and the funding round may help help a company prepare to go public or be acquired. A variety of types of private investors might participate.

Check out our previous startup funding roundups, here.