TravelPerk finishes its series C round to provide funding for their quick and flexible travel options for business consumers. Kinnevik, Partners of DST Global, Target Global, Felix Capital, Sunstone, and LocalGlobe invested in the startup in both parts of the round.
Founded in 2015 to streamline business travel, the startup has been growing rapidly this year. This latest funding gives them the leverage needed to solidify their grasp on the European market.
Setting Higher Standards
The Barcelona-based company’s unique angle is to simplify travel for business purposes. Their streamlined services reduce travel booking times from hours to just minutes by coordinating the best deals and logging travel costs.
“At TravelPerk, we believe that travel is the biggest unsolved problem in business today. As a $1.3 trillion [€1.2 trillion] global market, it’s staggering that businesses have been stuck for so long with a status quo defined by limited inventory, inflexible booking experiences, and lousy customer support,” said Avi Meir, CEO and Co-Founder. “Our focus is providing amazing value to business travelers. We want to be THE choice for the modern business traveler. A no-brainer choice for anyone booking, managing, reporting, or analyzing their business travel.”
Growth through Partnerships
TravelPerk has accumulated the world’s largest bookable inventory and grown by 300% this year. 2019 has also included two new offices in Berlin and London and a 250% increase in staffing for the travel startup.
Meir said, “We plan to fortify our position with SMEs in Europe and expand outwards. We’re planning to have over 400 people hired by the end of this year, and about 600 by end of 2020 – that’s nearly doubling in a year. This is the plan as it stands today, I wouldn’t be surprised if next year is an even higher trajectory. Certainly that’s the pattern when I look back at our journey so far.”
Overall, the European market provides unique challenges such as language barriers, individual country regulations, currencies, and local taxes. The company remains competitive in the €222 billion European industry through partnerships with companies in the travel industry.
Lufthansa, Kayak, Expensify, Expedia, Airbnb products are all available through their website. This makes TravelPerk’s offerings extremely attractive to customers who demand flexibility and choice in travel planning.