Worldia Raises $27 Million for Travel Agency Booking Platform

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.

Two travel tech startups have raised nearly $28 million this week.

>>Worldia, a planning and booking platform for travel suppliers, has raised €25 million ($27.3 million) in series B funding. 

The investors were Credit Mutuel Innovation, Banque des Territoires, and FrenchFounders, along with previous investors Red River West, CapHorn, and RAISE Ventures

The Paris-based company said its business-to-business tech platform is meant to help travel agencies and other suppliers and distributors plan and book several portions of a trip in one place. 

Worldia is a white-label platform, meaning clients can easily adapt the version they’re using to match their own company’s branding. 

The platform has access to 4,300 activities and 16,000 hotels in more than 80 destinations, the company said. It’s used by more than 3,500 agencies and distributors, primarily in France. 

The company is expanding into Germany, Belgium, and Spain, and recently performed its first pilot in the U.S. The company now plans to expand further into Europe and North America. 

Besides geographical expansion, the funding will go toward hiring, expanding connections to offer more products, adding in-destination services, and strengthening the tech platform. 

“At Red River West, we firmly believe that personalized travel is the future of the industry. As a trailblazer of the connected trip movement, Worldia is poised to unlock a massive opportunity for itself and its partners,” said Antoine Boulin, founding partner of Red River West, in a statement. “Covid greatly accelerated the adoption of their dynamic packaging solution by travel professionals and pure players alike, as evidenced by an impressive four-times growth compared to 2019.”

Worldia previously raised €19 million ($20.7 million) in series A funding, according to Crunchbase. 

>>Travel.win, a platform that provides travel products for loyalty programs at financial institutions, has raised $550,000 from new and existing investors. 

The Florida-based startup said that partners can use the platform to integrate branded online travel stores as part of their loyalty programs, meant to help them increase credit card spend, loyalty, and revenue. Customers include Bank of America, NCR, and the “largest Crypto exchange in Q3,” the startup said.

The startup creates the online travel store, and then the banks can just integrate it into their loyalty programs. Customers can then shop for travel products using their loyalty points. 

The funds will go toward further expanding the company’s platform.

Travel.win also recently launched a $1.2 million crowdfunding campaign.

Skift Cheat Sheet

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.