Skift Take
The old idea of payments in monthly installments is seeing new life in the U.S. online travel sector. Uplift is one of the leading tech vendors powering loans to travelers for buying from airlines such as Spirit and search sites like Kayak. Expect a lot of marketing around this in 2019.
Uplift, a financial services vendor, has raised $123 million in a Series C equity round. Travel brands tap Uplift's services and technology to help U.S. consumers pay for travel in monthly installments via the startup's loans.
Madrone Capital Partners led the round. Past investors, such as Draper Nexus, Ridge Ventures, Highgate Capital, Barton Asset Management, and PAR Capital, also participated. Uplift previously raised about $23 million in equity, and about $75 million in debt financing through a credit facility. The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its sales effort and create more travel-specific capabilities and services.
Travel companies hire the Menlo Park, California-based startup to help extend credit to U.S. consumers, enabling travelers to pay for their trips over time rather than up-front.
On Wednesday, the startup announced it has now signed Spirit AIrlines (slowly ramping up since June 2018) and Allegiant Air, which will be offering consumers installment plans for flight-only purchases via their websites.
Kayak, the price-comparison search site owned by Booking Holdings, confirmed that it has begun offering install
