TravelPerk Raises $44 Million for Biz Trip Management: Travel Startup Funding This Week

Travel Startup Funding This Week

Each week we round up travel startups that have recently received or announced funding. Please email Travel Tech Reporter Justin Dawes at [email protected] if you have funding news.

Vacasa, a vacation rental property management firm, earlier this week raised a $64 million extension to its Series B round. The Amazon Alexa Fund made an undisclosed investment in SevenRooms, a restaurant reservation and guest management system.

This week the total funding publicized was more than $113 million.

>>TravelPerk, an online service that enables companies to manage employee trips, has announced a $44 million Series C investment.

Kinnevik led the round. The Barcelona-based startup, which lets business travelers compare, book, and invoice in one interface, said it had become the fastest growing software-as-a-service company in Europe.

The startup, founded in 2015, has raised nearly $75 million in funding to date. It plans to use the fresh funding to expand internationally. It already has a new London office, and it plans to open bases in Amsterdam, Berlin, and Paris. Clients include Aesop, Bowers & Wilkins, Adyen, and Farfetch.

TravelPerk CEO Avi Meir said his company is “disrupting a mammoth and outdated $1.3 trillion market.”

>>TravelTriangle, a vacation package marketplace, has raised $3 million in debt funding from InnoVen Capital.

The Gurgaon, India-based TravelTriangle has raised more than $30 million since its 2011 founding.

TravelTriangle has agents bid for customer business, letting the customer choose the best itinerary. The startup brings together travelers and agents. TripHobo and TripFactory are among its rivals.

>>Mapify, a social travel network, has closed a $1 million seed round.
Ennea VC, LayJax Ventures, and a variety of angel investors participated.

Mapify, a Berlin-based startup that launched in Launched in November 2017, offers visual tools to help people plan trips based on the experiences of others, with the help of connections to “influencers” and friends, via a mobile app.

Dozens and dozens of startups have attempted to build Facebook/Instagrams of travel, leading some to opine that you should never build one. Only Mafengwo, a social trip-planning site based in China, has shown staying power so far.

>>Boost, a mobile learning solutions provider for the hospitality industry, will receive a strategic investment from École hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), the famous hospitality school. The organizations did not disclose the terms.

Singapore-based Boost’s platform offers mobile learning, communication, and assessment of hospitality worker capabilities.

Skift Cheat Sheet:
We define a startup as a company formed to test and build a repeatable and scalable business model. Few companies meet that definition. The rare ones that do often attract venture capital. Their funding rounds 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 assist 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 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. And also: Skift’s Top Travel Startups to Watch 2018.