TravelPerk, a free platform that transforms the way companies budget, book and manage business travel, today announces that it has raised $7m (€6.3m) in a Series A round led by Spark Capital, with additional investors including Sunstone Capital and original backers LocalGlobe. As part of the financing, Spark Capital’s Alex Finkelstein will join the company’s Board of Directors.
In a market estimated to be worth $1.25 trillion globally, companies lack a smart and easy-to-use booking suite for arranging and managing business travel. TravelPerk’s free product offers customers the seamless UX of leisure travel services, with the levels of control, visibility and compliance required by businesses. Users have access to a single booking platform, which integrates all major airline and hotel websites, where they can manage itineraries, payment methods, and travel policies in line with company budgets.
“For too long business customers have been saddled with sky high fees, and inflexible and inefficient products,” explains Avi Meir, CEO and co-founder of TravelPerk. “TravelPerk has addressed this by building a new category for enterprise travel: ‘a one stop shop’ with a core mission to simplify business travel and management for travelers and those who book for them.”
Founded in Barcelona in 2015 by a team steeped in the travel industry, co-founders Meir and Javier Suarez and their team previously worked at Booking.com, Hotel Ninjas (acquired by Booking.com), SkyScanner, and El Al Airlines. The company plans to triple their team in Barcelona, further develop their technology and expand globally.
“With years of experience in the travel sector, Avi and Javier have assembled an exceptional team with a huge market opportunity,” says Alex Finkelstein, Spark Capital General Partner. “The problems associated with business travel management are both longstanding and universal. We are incredibly excited to be supporting the team as they accelerate expansion globally.”
LocalGlobe’s Saul Klein adds: “The geographical diversity of TravelPerk’s investors, who have backed startups worldwide, and are in this instance investing in a Barcelona-based company, cofounded by an Israeli, perfectly encapsulates the way business travel is evolving. In a world where startups can be born anywhere, talent is highly mobile, and national boundaries matter less, we believe there is global demand for Avi and Javier’s product.”
About TravelPerk
TravelPerk is a free platform to help office managers book and manage their business travel all in one place, offering expense integration and travel budget reporting. TravelPerk was started In 2015 by co-founders Avi Meir, Javier Suarez and Ron Levin, who were troubled that leisure travelers had a myriad of online tools and apps to help them plan and coordinate their trips, while business travelers were stuck using outdated and overly complicated tools.
About Spark Capital
Spark Capital is an early & growth stage venture capital firm that invests in startups led by creative thinkers. The firm partners with entrepreneurs who make products and services for consumers as well as business people and is a proud supporter of companies such as Oculus, Twitter, Warby Parker, Slack, Postmates, Cruise Automation (acquired by GM), Wealthfront and Medium. Spark Capital has offices in SoMa in San Francisco, Astor Place in New York City and the Back Bay in Boston.
