Latest news with #B2BTravel
Skift
15-06-2025
- Business
- Skift
Lodging Tech and Jet Fuel: Travel Startups Raise $560 Million
Funding has been slow this year, but B2B travel tech startups are still leading the way these days. Travel Startup Funding This Week Each week we round up jd@ if you have funding news. Each week we round up travel startups that have recently received or announced funding . Please email Travel Tech Reporter Justin Dawes atif you have funding news. Business-to-business tech platforms are still leading the way in terms of travel startup funding. As Skift has reported, that's where the money is: Platforms that promise to modernize travel sectors that have aging tech. Funding has been slow this year, but it picked up slightly in recent weeks with three significant raises in the B2B category for hotels and vacation rentals. Hotel tech company Canary Technologies just raised $80 million, one of the largest rounds of the year for a travel software company. Holidu and Wander, both offering operations management tech for vacation rentals, each raised around $50 million. Kolet, an eSIM app that raised $10 million, also promotes its B2B offering for travel companies. It's likely a more significant revenue driver compared to individual consumer sales. SkyNRG, a renewable jet fuel producer, had the biggest raise, $285.7 million, for any travel startup so far this year. Companies of that type follow a different set of funding rules compared to software startups, which often have to prove a strong business model to raise that level. Renewable jet fuel companies need a lot of money to develop their tech in line with the airline industry's zero-carbon goal by 2050. Seven travel startups announced raises totaling over $560 million in the last four weeks. SkyNRG: $346.8 Million SkyNRG, which produces and distributes renewable jet fuel, has raised $346.8 million (€300 million). Pension management company APG committed $285.7 million (€250 million) to the round on behalf of ABP, a pension fund in the Netherlands. The other ($57.1 million) €50 million comes from Macquarie Asset Management, which led SkyNRG's $191 million round in 2023. Amsterdam-based SkyNRG says it sources the feedstocks used to make sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The company produces SAF in its plants and then distributes it to airline clients. SkyNRG says it has supplied SAF to more than 50 airlines worldwide. The company has facilities in Washington state, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The company plans to use the funding to help construct facilities in the Netherlands, Sweden, and the U.S. It will also support research and development, advisory services, and client projects. Canary Technologies: $80 Million Canary Technologies, a platform for hotel guest management, has raised $80 million in series D funding. Brighton Park Capital led the round, with support from Insight Partners, F-Prime Capital, Thayer Ventures, Y-Combinator, and Commerce Ventures. Canary said that the latest round brings its valuation to about $600 million. The company raised $50 million in June 2024. The platform by San Francisco-based Canary includes products for mobile check-in and checkout, upselling, guest messaging, and digital tipping. Canary last year added a generative AI chatbot for guest messaging, which is meant to answer specific property questions and sell add-ons like late check-out, without disrupting front desk staff. The company has since released an AI voicebot product to handle guest phone calls, as well as an AI chatbot for hotel websites, meant to drive direct bookings. The company said its tech supports more than 20,000 hotels for clients including Best Western, Aimbridge Hospitality, Marriott, Wyndham, TUI Hotels & Resorts, and others. The funding will go toward strengthening its products and expanding business. Holidu: $52.8 Million Holidu, a vacation rental management platform, has raised $52.8 million (€46 million). Key1 Capital led the round, with support from Vintage Investment Partners, Prime Ventures, 83North, and others. The tech by Germany-based Holidu primarily targets hosts who own one property. Holidu now manages nearly 50,000 properties, which drives 70% of the company's revenue. The company said that the number of properties has tripled, and revenue from that business has grown 3.5 times, since it raised $102 million of debt and equity in 2022. Holidu also owns Bookiply, which helps owners generate more bookings. The funding will go toward accelerating AI integration, expanding the property management business, and moving into new geographic markets. The company said its first AI chatbot for guests 'reduced simple support tickets by 70% and complex ones by 30%.' The company also said it acquired Cybevasion, operator of French vacation rental booking sites and Their more than 35,000 properties now have access to Holidu's tech. Cybevasion employees will be integrated into the Holidu organization. Jean-Louis Desouche, founder of Cybevasion, will stay on to lead the business. This is Holidu's eighth acquisition, which it said is part of a strategy for 'bolt-on growth across Europe.' Wander: $50 Million Wander, a property management platform for luxury short-term rentals, has raised $50 million in series B funding. QED and Fifth Wall led the round, with support from Redpoint, Uncork, Starwood, Authentic, Breyer, Alumni, Hakluyt, Activant, Soma, and others. The company last raised a $20 million series A round in 2022. San Francisco-based Wander says its AI-powered operating system manages a variety of tasks for short-term rental logistics and guest needs. That includes listing creation, maintenance coordination, guest communication, check-in, and more. 'Wander is on track to automate 95% of operational tasks within the next 18 months,' the company said. Wander also has a booking platform for travelers. Wander said that more than 1,000 homes use the service. As of the second quarter of 2025, the company has logged more than 35,000 nights booked and a repeat customer booking rate of 27%. Wander says it focuses on recruiting the top 5% of properties, those that already drive 30% of the industry's revenue. The company looks for properties that include amenities like WiFi, gyms, pools, and saunas. It estimates that there are more than 300,000 potential clients worldwide. The funding will go toward expanding into new markets, strengthening the tech system, and building the brand. Qashio: $19.8 Million Qashio, an expense management platform, has raised $19.8 million in equity and debt. Rocketship VC led the round, with participation from MoreThan Capital, regional banks, and family offices. Dubai-based Qashio says its expensive management products and services include corporate cards, custom approvals based on client policies, reimbursement, AI-powered receipt matching, analytics, and more. The company also offers a loyalty program, enabling users to earn air miles and hotel points. Partners on the loyalty program include Emirates, Air France, KLM, Avios (British Airways, Iberia, Finnair), Jumeirah One, Accor, and IHG Hotels & Resorts. The company said that it generated $1.2 million in profit in the first quarter of 2025. Its revenue has grown over 800% year-over-year for three consecutive years, the company said. The funding will go toward expansion in Saudi Arabia. Kolet: $10 Million Kolet, an eSIM app, has raised $10 million in series A funding. Daphni led the round, with support from former Expedia CEO Peter Kern and Jon Gieselman, chief growth officer for Comcast and former exec for Apple and Expedia. The round includes €1 million in non-dilutive funding from investment bank Bpifrance. Kern and Gieselman are joining the board, along with Certares managing director Philippe Chérèque. The company last year raised €5 million in seed funding. Besides the consumer product, Paris-based Kolet provides the eSIM app as a product that travel companies can offer to customers. Clients include Air France-KLM, Evaneos, Exoticca, and Wego. Kolet says the app includes 'instant' eSIM activation and the ability to use unused data on a future trip. Pricing starts at €3.99 for one gigabyte. The company said it has gained more than 300,000 users since it launched a year ago, and it's on track to reach 1 million users by the end of the year. The funding will go toward strengthening the mobile app, simplifying the installation experience, and hiring. Truely: $2 Million Truely, an eSIM app, has raised $2 million. Investors included DG Daiwa Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Beenext. The company last raised $3.5 million in 2024. Singapore-based Truely says users download only one eSIM, eliminating the need to download new eSIMs for different countries or regions. The service is usable in more than 190 countries, the company said. The pricing for most countries starts at $2.50 per day when purchasing 30 days, according to the website. The fewer days the user purchases at one time, the higher the daily price. The highest daily price for the U.S. is $5.52, while the lowest is $2.50. The funding will go toward network scaling for lower latency, localized pricing and payments, and new tools for business travelers. Travaras: $1.5 Million Travaras, an experience booking marketplace focused on sustainable tourism, has raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed round. The funding comes from Techstars following the startup's completion of its accelerator program. San Francisco-based Travaras says it curates ticketed experiences based on a proprietary ranking system. All the experiences at this point are based on four Hawaii islands. The funding will go toward strengthening the tech and user experience, along with marketing. The Tarzan Way: $234,000 The Tarzan Way, an AI-powered trip planner website, has raised $234,000 (20 million Indian rupees). Inflection Point Ventures led the round, with support from Your Trips Limited and a group of angel investors that includes Prateek Maheshwari, founder of education tech company PhysicsWallah. The Tarzan Way, based in India, says its site includes AI-powered itinerary creation, a booking engine, and 24/7 live concierge support. The company says it has facilitated a total of $1.6 million (135 million Indian rupees) in bookings. The funding will go toward product development, operations, marketing, admin, and launching a new mobile app.
Travel Daily News
19-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Daily News
'One-stop-shop': sales hype or the future of B2B travel?
The 'one-stop-shop' model is gaining traction in B2B travel, offering centralized, customizable, and branded solutions that enhance loyalty and streamline operations. Seasoned travel industry executives are perhaps understandably wary of any easy answers or quick fixes, as experience will have shown them not to be true. Could the current debate around 'one-stop-shops' however be the exception? We work in an industry defined by fragmentation, where loyalty programs and membership organizations often juggle multiple vendors, disjointed systems, and inconsistent user experiences. This means thatthe idea of a 'one-stop shop' isn't just appealing, it's rapidly becoming a necessity. Unlike a lot of sales-hyped concepts we see thrown around until the next big thing comes along, this isn't a new concept and has been around for years: Amazon revolutionized retail by centralizing everything in one place, Apple created an ecosystem where hardware, software, and services coexist seamlessly, and Shopify made e-commerce accessible to brands of all sizes. Mike Putman, CEO of Custom Travel Solutions (CTS), believes the concept of the 'one-stop-shop' is far from hype and quickly becoming the gold standard for how B2B travel services are delivered. He puts it succinctly: 'We built Custom Travel Solutions to eliminate the pain points of fragmented travel experiences. Our clients were juggling multiple vendors just to deliver basic benefits. Now, they can offer everything in one cohesive, branded environment.' This unified approach has reshaped industries, but its arrival in B2B travel, particularly in the loyalty segment, feels long overdue. By centralizing travel services ranging from flights and hotels to more niche benefits like airport lounges, medical evacuation, and even yacht charters, CTS has become the Swiss Army knife of travel: modular, powerful, and highly adaptable. The strength of this model lies in its modularity. Rather than imposing a fixed structure, platforms like these allow loyalty programs to pick and choose benefits – be it just hotels and car rentals, or a full suite including private jets, eSIMs, and yacht charters. This adaptability enables brands to craft tailored experiences that align closely with their audience's expectations. Another key element is personalization. Modern platforms increasingly offer features such as multi-tiered configurations, private-label branding, and even one-on-one travel concierge services – moving beyond utility into brand-enhancing experiences. When executed well, the travel service becomes a seamless extension of the client's brand, rather than a third-party add-on. The platform's private-labeling capability further amplifies brand control. Clients can fully brand the user experience, keeping look and feel consistent with their identity. According to Putman, 'For members, the experience should feel like a seamless part of the brand they already trust – not a disconnected third-party service. Maintaining that consistency is key to reinforcing loyalty and brand value.' Beyond a polished user experience, some emerging solutions in the travel loyalty space now offer an impressively wide range of services. These include access to millions of hotel rates with exclusive member discounts, thousands of cruise itineraries, global car rentals, and ancillary services like discounted rail travel, airport transfers, and 24/7 virtual medical support. When combined with extras such as concierge assistance, travel insurance, expedited visa services, and even private home rentals, the overall value proposition becomes increasingly compelling for both brands and their members. But this shift isn't just about expanding the range of services – it's about creating cohesion. When all elements of a travel offering work together within a unified system, it simplifies both the backend operations and the user experience. In a sector where fragmented journeys can erode loyalty, that kind of seamless integration is becoming increasingly valuable. Most loyalty and membership programs still rely on a patchwork of third-party providers, which can result in a disjointed and inconsistent user experience. As the demand grows for unified travel solutions, platforms that centralize services – from accommodation and transport to ancillary benefits – are emerging to streamline both backend operations and the traveler journey. There's also a strong commercial case. With services like the Best Price Promise, clients can confidently compete on price, knowing they'll match or beat public rates, or refund 110% of the difference. Meanwhile, features like Tastecard and daily shopper discounts expand the value beyond travel, offering lifestyle benefits that drive daily engagement. This kind of all-in-one infrastructure echoes what Salesforce did for CRM and what Shopify did for e-commerce: enabling brands to deliver world-class services without building the technology stack themselves. As the travel industry continues to evolve post-pandemic, the demand for scalable, streamlined, and personalized travel solutions will only intensify. Companies that can offer robust value in a frictionless format won't just win the trust of their clients, they'll redefine the industry standard. And as Putman aptly puts it: 'The direction is clear: today's members expect travel benefits to be seamless, personalized, and easy to access. In a crowded and fast-evolving market, platforms that deliver on those expectations with clarity and consistency are likely to stand out.'
