The digital industry has assumed that these are not times to get large investments after years of euphoria unleashed during the pandemic. In Barcelona, it had been a year since the ecosystem had seen large operations until last Tuesday Travelperk took the pulse again, confirming that its business continues to fly through the heights of the digital ecosystem.
The company, specialized in business travel reservations, has raised around 95 million euros in a capital increase led by the Japanese giant Softbank and backed by the Kinnevik and Felix Capital funds. According to company sources, this is a follow-on operation of the round that closed in 2022. It is for this reason that Travelperk has maintained its valuation at 1,280 million euros. “We have revalidated the title of unicorn since we have exceeded 1,000 million in value,” comments Adrià Izard, spokesperson for the company in Spain.
In the context of current austerity, this milestone is not so easy to achieve. In fact, Glovo and Wallbox are no longer unicorns since in recent months investors have lowered their value below 1 billion. Only Factorial and Travelperk, from Barcelona, and Cabify and Jobandtalent, from Madrid, remain in the club.
What has been the attraction that investors have seen in Travelperk? The company has a turnover of close to 150 million euros annually and plans to grow by double digits in the coming years. It has not yet reached profits, but it assures that it will achieve this this year. The founder of the business, Avi Meir, has excessive ambition. “We want to build a company that will still be alive in 100 years, that will be a leader in corporate travel in Europe and the United States,” says the Israeli entrepreneur based in the Catalan capital.
The strategy to achieve this is to attack the SME market. A strategy that Factorial also applies in the human resources sector. “Small and medium-sized businesses still have a long way to go in terms of digitalization and that is where we come in, being their ally when organizing trips or events,” says Izard.
The potential client of the platform is a medium-sized export company, whose team has to travel often. “The service is accessible to all types of companies, but it makes sense when the annual travel budget exceeds 50,000 euros,” says the spokesperson. The large corporation is not their target audience since someone else has convinced them before, and in these cases, where the business is gigantic, it is very difficult to convince executives to make changes in their operations.
Travelperk's activity is based on carrying out the comprehensive reservation of transportation and accommodation services. The business is generated through two channels, the client's recurring fee and the commission obtained from hotels and transportation companies. At the moment, explains Izard, the margin is negative because Travelperk has risked everything in growing, but now, at the request of the investment funds, it is working to obtain profitability as soon as possible.
The money raised from the latest investment round will help you achieve your goals. The company is focused on strengthening its presence in the countries where it already operates, mainly Spain, the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. It also plans to invest the money in improvements to its technology. Despite being a startup that was born with a digital vocation, its reservation process is still not fully automated. “We will use artificial intelligence algorithms to completely digitize ticketing and customer services. We will also create a platform that will be able to make price comparisons in real time,” says Izard.
The company plans to hire workers to carry out these projects. Currently, it employs 1,200 people, 800 of them at the Barcelona headquarters. The figures are far from the beginnings in 2015, when Avi Meir and Javier Suárez (disassociated) started the business in an apartment in the Raval neighborhood.
“Barcelona is our city of origin and we feel proud to have been born here. We will soon exceed 1,000 employees at the headquarters. We have a long-term commitment to the city and its ecosystem,” concludes the founder.
