HomeFundingBarcelona-based TravelPerk secures €38 million to transform the €1.1 trillion business travel...

Barcelona-based TravelPerk secures €38 million to transform the €1.1 trillion business travel market

TravelPerk, the Barcelona-based startup which turned into one of the fastest growing ‘Software as a Service’ companies in Europe, has secured about €38 million in Series C funding from some of the world’s most successful tech investors including Kinnevik, Yuri Milner and Tom Stafford. This new funding will enable the startup to expand into new markets and accelerate its growth towards its ambition to become the world’s leading corporate travel platform.

According to the Global Business Travel Association, 50% of business travel happens outside of company policy often because existing platforms are outdated, can’t offer the choice or prices of consumer sites, and require travel managers and finance teams to endure multiple platforms, emails and calls back and forth to manage a single trip – costing companies valuable time and money, while frustrating employees and preventing growth.

Founded in 2015, TravelPerk is solving this problem by simplifying the process for hundreds of thousands of travellers from some of the world’s most influential companies including Uber and Transferwise – cutting the time needed to manage a trip from 3 or 4 hours to just 10 minutes. By streamlining the process, TravelPerk is saving companies more than 20% in annual travel costs.

The company’s unique platform hosts the world’s largest bookable travel inventory, and brings all the necessary tools and resources to manage trips from booking to accounting into one simple, smart, consumer-standard interface. The platform allows travellers to quickly and seamlessly compare, book and invoice cars, trains, flights and hotels from a wide range of major providers including Booking.com, Expedia and Airbnb – with 24/7 support.

TravelPerk CEO Avi Meir commented: “We believe business travel should be as simple as personal travel – if not easier. As businesses grow beyond borders, organising trips is one of the most painful and unnecessary obstacles they face to expanding. TravelPerk is breaking new ground to propel business travel into the 21st century, disrupting a mammoth and outdated $1.3 trillion market – ensuring distance is never a barrier to future growth.”

In this latest round, the company is also being supported by existing investors such as Felix Capital, Target Global, Spark Capital, LocalGlobe, Suntone and Amplo, who back market-changing unicorns including Slack, Trello, Farfetch, Deliveroo and Delivery Hero.

Since its start, TravelPerk has increased revenues by 700% growth year on year, and has now raised nearly $75 million in total funding (Series B was closed in April of this year). The fresh capital injectionwill equip TravelPerk to expand into new markets, enlarge its client base by working more with small enterprises and augment its technology offering including integrating travel and expenses management into the platform.

Having tripled the size of its team in the past year, TravelPerk is opening a new office in the UK, and is soon also to build bases in Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris. The UK business travel market was worth $50 billion in 2017, and this initial investment will allow TravelPerk to simplify travel for customers such as Aesop, Bowers & Wilkins, Adyen and Farfetch.

Chris Bischoff, Senior Investment Director at Kinnevik, said: “We are excited to invest in TravelPerk, a company that fits perfectly into our investment thesis of using technology to offer customers more and much better choice. Booking corporate travel is unnecessarily time-consuming, expensive and burdensome compared to leisure travel. Avi and team have capitalised on this opportunity to build the leading European challenger by focusing on a product-led solution, and we look forward to supporting their future growth.”

By the way: If you’re interested to join a fast-growing startup like TravelPerk, make sure to check out the EU-Startups Job Board.

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Thomas Ohr
Thomas Ohr
Thomas Ohr is the "Editor in Chief" of EU-Startups.com and started the blog in October 2010. He is excited about Europe's future, passionate about new business ideas and lives in Barcelona (Spain).
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