change take
—Justin Dawes
Two travel tech startups have raised nearly $28 million this week.
>>worldiaa planning and booking platform for travel providers, has raised €25 million ($27.3 million) in Series B funding.
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 technology platform is intended to help travel agencies and other suppliers and distributors plan and book various parts of a trip in one place.
Worldia is a white-label platform, which means that customers can easily tailor the version they are using to match their own company branding.
The platform has access to 4,300 activities and 16,000 hotels in more than 80 destinations, the company said. It is used by more than 3,500 agencies and distributors, mainly in France.
The company is expanding into Germany, Belgium, and Spain, and recently completed its first pilot project in the US. The company now plans to expand further into Europe and North America.
In addition to the geographic expansion, the financing will be used for contracting, the expansion of connections to offer more products, the addition of services at the destination and the strengthening of the technological platform.
“At Red River West, we strongly believe that personalized travel is the future of the industry. As a pioneer of the connected travel movement, Worldia stands ready to unlock a great opportunity for itself and its partners,” Antoine Boulin, founding partner of Red River West, said in a statement. “Covid greatly accelerated the adoption of its dynamic packaging solution by travel professionals and pure gamers alike, as evidenced by an impressive four-fold growth compared to 2019.”
Worldia previously raised 19 million euros ($20.7 million) in series A funding, according to Crunchbase.
>>travel.wina platform that offers travel products for loyalty programs at financial institutions, has raised $550,000 from new and existing investors.
The Florida-based startup said partners can use the platform to integrate branded online travel stores as part of their loyalty programs, aimed at helping them increase credit card spend, loyalty and revenue. Clients include Bank of America, NCR, and the “largest cryptocurrency exchange in Q3,” the startup said.
The startup creates the online travel store and then banks can integrate it into their loyalty programs. Customers can then purchase travel products using their loyalty points.
The funds will go towards further expanding the company’s platform.
Travel.win also recently launched a $1.2 million program fundraising Campaign.
| Company | Scenery | Lead | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| worldia | B-series | Credit Mutuel Innovation, Banque des Territoires and FrenchFounders | $27.3 million |
| travel.win | Unspecified | Unspecified | $550,000 |
Skift Cheat Sheet
Seed capital is money used to start a business, often run by angel investors and friends or family.
A series funding usually comes from venture capitalists. The round is aimed at helping startup founders make sure their product is something customers actually want to buy.
B-series Funding is mostly about venture capital firms that help a business grow faster. These fundraising rounds can help recruit skilled workers and develop profitable marketing.
C-series Typically, financing is about helping a company expand, for example through acquisitions. In addition to venture capitalists, hedge funds, investment banks, and private equity firms are often involved.
Series D, E and beyond These mainly mature deals and round of financing can help a company prepare to go public or be acquired. A variety of types of private investors could participate.
