TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY
TripActions | October 14, 2021
In less than a year, TripActions has secured a second massive funding round – this time $275 million in Series F growth funding.
The round was led by Greenoaks Capital with participation from prior investors Elad Gil, Base Partners and all key existing financial investors and values TripActions at $7.25 billion on a post-money basis.
The funding comes less than nine months after TripActions' Series E round of $155 million in January. The travel management company's total funding to date is nearly $1.3 billion.
Is an IPO coming soon for the six-year-old company? Michael Sindicich, general manager of TripActions Liquid, the company’s payment and expense management solution, says while an IPO would be a “natural fundraising opportunity and another milestone in our growth,” it is not planned for the near future.
“We’ve got quite a lot of cash. We’re making great revenue. We are not in any rush to take the company public at this time,” Sindicich says. The vote of confidence from investors, he says, confirms TripActions’ belief that travel and expense management is “ripe for a tech makeover.”
Despite the global impact of COVID-19 on travel, TripActions says it has now exceeded pre-pandemic levels in terms of bookings and revenue and has more than doubled its aggregate travel budget under management from February 2020 through the end of July this year.
The gains are due in part to a focus on acquiring new enterprise customers, targeted with the launch of TripActions Enterprise Edition in September 2020. Clients include Heineken, Crate & Barrel, Snowflake, Thomson Reuters and Adobe.
“We were there for these customers, they were switching from legacy travel agencies and booking tools, legacy expense platforms, because we were innovating, we were supporting, we were adapting to the way the new world would operate moving forward and that gave them a lot of confidence to actually make a change.”
Michael Sindicich, general manager of TripActions
Also adding fuel to TripActions' growth in the last 18 months: the launch of Liquid in February 2020, first as a payment solution and then in October 2020 adding expense management tools.
Sindicich says transaction volume is similar for Liquid as for core travel, and more than 90% of the new companies TripActions is bringing onboard use its full suite of solutions for corporate travel, expense, spend and payment management.
“Seventy-percent of expenses happen while employees are on trips,” he says.
“So we’re learning about the power of the end-to-end solution. We built Liquid as a separate team in the beginning... and are now seeing that both platforms together, it’s a one-plus-one-equals-three type of situation.”
Along with continuing to develop these products, TripActions will accelerate development of Lemonade, its personal travel booking solution that launched in October 2020. Lemonade gives employees at TripActions’ client companies’ access to negotiated rates and exclusive deals, notifications about COVID requirements and around-the-clock support for their leisure trips.
The company is also continuing to develop TripActions Team Travel, a self-serve solution that launched in June to facilitate gatherings of distributed employees. Earlier this month it added support for meetings and events to Team Travel, leveraging the capabilities it gained with its acquisition of Reed & Mackay in May.
TripActions will also add staff globally, expand its efforts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa – Europe now represents 30% of TripActions’ business - and, says Sindicich, continue to look for merger and acquisition opportunities.
“We’re always looking for companies that would make sense to acquire and work with and add to the portfolio so this could be another deployment of this capital as well,” he says.
“There’s not a prospect we are announcing or have in mind right now, but it would be natural for us to also look at other opportunities as well since we see Reed & Mackay is working so well for us.”
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BUSINESS TRAVEL
Hyatt Hotels Corporation | August 31, 2021
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, announced a collaboration between the Hyatt Place brand and Gopuff, a go-to platform for consumers’ immediate everyday needs, such as drinks, snacks, over-the-counter medications, home and baby products and more, including alcohol in select markets.
Starting today at more than a dozen Hyatt Place hotels, this pilot program will create an added layer of convenience and comfort for travelers, providing guests at participating properties with fast, free delivery of thousands of everyday items. Guests at participating hotels can receive items in just 30 minutes delivered from Gopuff’s local micro-fulfillment centers. The collaboration will expand the Hyatt Place brand’s Necessities program, which offers guests a wide range of essentials to keep, borrow or buy, such as toothpaste, cellphone chargers or headphones.
In a recent survey, Hyatt learned that 60% of travelers have forgotten to pack an item (e.g., toiletries and first aid) for a business or leisure trip*. Leveraging data from the same survey, Hyatt and Gopuff identified the most-often-forgotten and most-likely-to-purchase items and collaborated to create in-app categories such as Travel Essentials, Spa Retreat, Movie Night, Office on the Go, and more, to ensure guests have easy, quick access to the items they need most while traveling.
“As both business and leisure travelers adjust their travel routines and seek new ways to travel safely, it’s important for us to keep the needs and wellbeing of our guests at the forefront of everything we do,” said Emily Wright, Global Brand Leader, Hyatt. “Every detail of the Hyatt Place experience is designed around innovation and intuitive design to make guest stays as seamless and comfortable as possible. Our collaboration with Gopuff is just another way the brand is helping guests get the most out of their stay, regardless of their reason for travel.”
Through this collaboration, Hyatt Place guests at participating hotels may enjoy the following benefits:
Free delivery on every Gopuff order for all Hyatt Place guests at participating properties.
Access to quick and free delivery of thousands of products, including drinks, snacks, over-the-counter medications, home cleaning and baby products, alcohol in select markets, and pet products for those guests traveling with their furry friends.
Guests who are using Gopuff for the first time will also receive $10 credit for their first two orders ($20 total)
Guests staying at participating Hyatt Place pilot hotels in Nashville and Phoenix specifically may also take advantage of fresh meals, such as pizza, breakfast sandwiches, cafe style coffee and matcha drinks, and more.
“As a customer-first business, we’re excited to work with Hyatt to bring a one-of-a-kind, convenient experience to their guests,” said Marshall Osborne, Gopuff’s Head of Business Development. “As we continue our mission to become the world’s go-to solution for immediate everyday needs, we're excited to leverage our unique model to innovate yet another industry – travel. We look forward to collaborating with Hyatt to improve the way we travel and to enable Gopuff to deliver to more customers in new ways."
Through February 2022, Hyatt Place guests at the following pilot locations can simply scan the QR code placed in their rooms and common areas to take advantage of the offer during their stay or visit Gopuff.com/r/gohyattplace for more information. Once registered as a new Gopuff user, guests can shop across various product categories and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.
About Hyatt Hotels Corporation
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company offering 20 premier brands. As of June 30, 2021, the Company's portfolio included more than 1,000 hotel and all-inclusive properties in 68 countries across six continents. The Company's purpose to care for people so they can be their best informs its business decisions and growth strategy and is intended to attract and retain top employees, build relationships with guests and create value for shareholders.
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TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY
TapTrip | March 25, 2021
Grant-winning travel tech organization TapTrip divulges strong new branding and creativity today, including another site and promotion video featuring RuPaul's Drag Race UK's heavenly Divina de Campo, which approaches the travel industry to #daretobedifferent.
The rebrand sets TapTrip's market and item situating inside the worldwide travel area and uncovers its cutting edge omnichannel offering, which mirrors the wants, needs, and estimations of Millennial and Gen Z travelers.
“Our new creative clarifies our position within the travel market as a valued tech partner to travel management companies. We don’t sell direct to corporates, we provide TMCs with a business travel tool – which is neither overdeveloped nor overpriced – that helps them target, and cater for, the lucrative SME market and the Millennial and Gen Z travellers that work within it,” explained TapTrip COO Neil Ruth.
About TapTrip
They have brought together the best and brightest minds in travel technology to bring out the best and brightest business travel solution. Team of tech wizards squeeze every last drop of goodness out of every single line of code to develop the smoothest, most streamlined experience possible. Having helped build some of the world’s biggest travel companies out there, they now make up the TapTrip team: the brains (and the beauty) behind the future of corporate travel.
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