CellPoint Mobile Raises $14 Million for App Services: Travel Startup Funding This Week

This week travel startups announced more than $23 million in funding.

Earlier this week we reported that Volantio, a startup that helps airlines rebook flexible passengers on emptier flights, had received an undisclosed amount of investment from Amadeus, the travel technology giant. We also noted that private equity firm General Atlantic had taken a majority-share of travel tech company Kiwi.com through an investment estimated by sources to have been about $125 million.

Here is some more recently announced travel funding news.

>>CellPoint Mobile, which sells tools for e-commerce and payment management to airlines and other travel companies, has raised $14 million (£11 million) in equity funding.

Toscafund, via its partner Penta Capital, led the round. The companies did not say if it was a Series A round.

Miami, Fla.-based Cellpoint Mobile has been racking up airline clients for its mobile payments app and merchandising software suite. Clients like Emirates, Ethiopian, Southwest Airlines, GOL, Viva Air, and Saudi Gulf Airlines, use the company to manage airline promotions, booking, ticketing, and payment by travelers via mobile devices.

For example, CellPoint Mobile helps travel companies, such as Viva Air, accept local and global card payment methods, including Apple Pay and Alipay to its mobile customers.

Established in 2007, CellPoint Mobile has 130 employees and more than 30 clients worldwide.

>>WAmazing, a startup offering tourism services to foreign visitors to Japan, said it had secured about $8.5 million (930 million yen) in a series B round of funding.

Tokyu Corporation, a private railway company, led the round. JR West Innovations, the corporate venture arm of state-backed Japanese railway company JR, participated along with other investors.

The startup WAmazing previously raised $9.2 million in a Series A round in 2017. It said its mobile app has been downloaded more than 240,000 times by users primarily based in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

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.