TripActions Bags $275 Million to Grow Expense 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.

This week, travel startups announced more than $279 million in funding.

>>TripActions, a business travel management startup, raised $275 million in a Series F round at a post-money valuation of $7.25 billion.

Greenoaks led the round. Other investors included Elad Gil and Base Partners. The Palo Alto startup previously raised a $155 million round of financing in January and has raised nearly $1.3 billion in funding to date.

Between the start of February 2020 and the end of July 2021, the startup more than doubled its aggregate travel budget under its management. The company has also ramped up the number of clients using its more recently launched expense management and payment tools.

“Just as TripActions continues to disrupt the corporate travel market, TripActions Liquid is set to replace traditional spend management solutions,” said co-founder and CEO Ariel Cohen. “No other company is able to provide a single, unified T&E [travel and expense] solution for enterprise companies on a global scale.”

The U.S. company said Europe now makes up 30 percent of its business. It faces rivals such as TravelPerk and SAP’s Concur.

>>CuddlyNest, a booking search site offering 4 million hotels, hostels, and vacation rentals, raised $3.5 million in funding.

The U.S.-based startup has raised more than $14 million to date, ShortTermRentalz reported.

>>BlackTravelBox, which sells “TSA friendly hair and skincare” for people of color, won $45,000 in a pitch competition victory at Denver Startup Week sponsored by VF Venture Foundry. The startup is also raising $300,000.

“If you look at the travel aisle — if there is one — in your local store, the products that are there just aren’t made for women of color,” said CEO Orion Brown in an interview with the Denver Gazette. Her products strive to fill that gap in the market.

CORRECTION: The description of BlackTravelBox’s prize has been corrected.

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

Check out our previous startup funding roundups, here.