Travelperk is a company specialized in the business travel management that benefit the entire organization. The package they offer includes real-time updates before boarding and during the trip; the option to cancel the journey at any time leaving behind costly flexible fares and recovering at least 80% of the money and considerable cost savings.
On this last point, they point out that VAT is refunded on business trips, allowing access to corporate rates. They also save time by having all the data on the same invoice and avoiding the complications of booking and managing business. For this they have the most complete inventory that exists of flights, trains, hotels and rental vehicles and offer a service «seven stars«.
Likewise, they are capable of answering any question in just 15 seconds in a personalized way, that is, without chatbots involved, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Travelperk’s current goal is to foster ‘next generation’ sustainable travel. This concept refers to those packages purpose-built for the hybrid work era. For this reason, the company focuses on connecting people “in real life in a nice and sustainable way”.
The startup was founded in 2015 in Barcelona by the israeli Avi Meir (current CEO) and the Salvadoran, javier suarezwho was CPO until 2019 and is currently a shareholder of the company and CEO and co-founder of Oliva.
Its growth has been constant and has intensified in recent years. In 2020 Travelperk bought the startup Albatross in Spain, which stands out for its risk management API. In 2021 it acquired Click Travel, the UK’s largest business travel platform. It also strengthened its presence in the US by acquiring NexTravel.
The startup has its headquarters in Spain (specifically in Barcelona, recently moving to 22@, with an office rental of 9,400 square meters) but also has offices in other countries such as the United States (Miami, Chicago and Boston), the United Kingdom (London, Birmingham and Edinburgh) and Germany (Berlin).
Valuation of 1,192 million euros
The company became a unicorn in January 2022 after closing a series D financing round worth €105 million. In this way, Travelperk went on to obtain a valuation of 1,192 million euros.
Behind this operation were important personalities such as the former CEO of Booking.com, Gillian Tans, Joel Cutler (investor in Stripe, Airbnb and Kayak), General Catalyst and Kinnevik. After this round, Avi Meir stated that there are currently technologies that focus on virtual interactions, but even so, they are developing the technology that will allow them to meet in real life.
Its main clients include Just Eat, Takeaway.com and USA Rugby. In addition, Travelperk recently closed an agreement with Pleo, with the aim of simplifying the management of its users’ travel expenses.
