Skift Take

This week, travel startups announced more than $198 million in funding, including business management startup TravelPerk and a half-dozen other companies.

Series: Startups 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 $198 million in funding.

>>TravelPerk, a Barcelona-based travel management agency, has raised $115 million in a Series D round.

General Catalyst led the round, which gave the startup a $1.3 billion valuation. The Barcelona-based business has raised $409 million to date.

See Skift’s coverage: TravelPerk Enlists Former Booking.com CEO to Scale Up After Raising $115 Million.

>>Fly Now Pay Later, a financial technology firm based in London, has raised a $75 million debt funding package provided by funds managed by Atalaya Capital Management., which also took an equity stake.

The startup will use the funding to expand further into the U.S. market. It has raised a total of $150 million since it was launched in 2015.

The company enables consumers to spread the cost of a trip over several payments, up to 12 monthly installments.

“Our proprietary platform has been designed to make instantaneous credit decisions, providing highly tailored and digestible payment options to consumers traditionally underserved by existing credit institutions,” said founder and CEO Jasper Dykes.

The startup has “hundreds” of clients including Malaysia Airlines, Air Serbia, and Azores Airlines.

>>Origin, a membership-based travel agency, raised $5 million in seed funding.

Project A led the round.

The company offers customized trips via a mobile app.

Origin was co-founded by Eli Bressert, who previously was a leader at Stitch Fix, an online custom clothes service. Origin is using similar approaches as Stitch Fix to give travel consultants “superpowers” thanks to services that take advantage of automation and machine learning.

>>TripGrid, a travel management company, has closed a $1.6 million round of funding. Investors included Portland Seed Fund and Cascade Seed Fund.

The Portland-based startup had previously raised $1.5 million. It offers automation software to help with business-related group travel. 

>>AirStudent, an online travel company based in Johannesburg, raised an undisclosed seed funding round from E Squared Investments in 2021.

The startup helps students travel between home and university in southern Africa into coordinated groups so that they can benefit from volume discounts for domestic trips negotiated directly with airlines.

The startup was founded by Ndabenhle Ntshangase and Lwanda Shabalala in 2017, VentureBurn reported.

Partners so far include Comair (operating British Airways & Kulula.com locally), South Africa’s latest airline Lift, and Europcar.

>>JetCamp, an online booking service for campsites and holiday parks, has closed a $572,000 (€500,000) seed round.

Falkensteiner Michaeler Tourism Group (FMTG) and Cunningham Holding participated.

The booking services’ website has nearly 23,000 verified campsites and holiday parks listed and drew more than 4 million visitors in 2021.

>>TripGuru, an experiences booking website, raised an undisclosed sum of funding from Velocity Ventures, a Singapore-based firm with a focus on the hospitality and travel sectors in Southeast Asia.

CompanyStageLeadRaise
TravelPerkSeries DGeneral Catalyst$115 million
Fly Now Pay LaterDebt FundingAtalaya$75 million
OriginSeedProject A$5 million
TripGridPre-Series APortland Seed Fund$1.6 million
AirStudentSeedE Squared InvestmentsN/A
JetCampSeedFMTG and Cunningham$572,000
TripGuruSeedVelocity VEnturesN/A

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. These fundraising rounds can assist in 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.

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Tags: funding, vcroundup

Photo credit: Travelperk co-founder and CEO Avi Meir. Source: TravelPerk.

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