Barcelona-based business travel management platform TravelPerk has raised $200 million at a hefty $2.7 billion valuation — almost double the $1.4 billion valuation at its previous fundraise last year.
Alongside the raise, TravelPerk also announced it has acquired Swiss startup Yokoy to bring native expenses management into the fray.
With the travel and tourism industry just about back to pre-pandemic levels, this has proved a boon for startups offering everything from tour packages and trip-planning tools, to luggage storage and vacation rental smarts.
This trend has been reflected somewhat in the corporate sphere, too, with the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) noting that business travel was on course to hit a record $1.5 trillion in 2024 — 6.2% more than the pre-pandemic peak in 2019. This demand is filtering down into the corporate travel startup space, too, and investors are taking note. In September, news emerged that Denver-based Engine, which focuses on hotel bookings, flights, car rentals, and meeting spaces, had raised $140 million at a $2.1 billion valuation.
TravelPerk, for its part, touts an all-in-one platform for businesses to book, manage and report all their domestic and international travel, with integrations that extend the platform to functions such as HR and expenses.
While the pandemic has had an indelible impact on working culture in terms of remote and hybrid-working, there is little correlation between this and the the kind of corporate travel that TravelPerk is concerned with. TravelPerk president and chief operating officer, Jean-Christophe Taunay-Bucalo, pointed to its recent Value of Business Travel report, which found that companies are still planning to invest in travel to boost sales and new business efforts, such as by traveling to conferences.
“Hybrid and remote working models have had a minimal impact on demand for business travel — those who are travelling for work will continue to do so, because it’s part of their job,” Taunay-Bucalo told TechCrunch over email. “Whether it’s for a sales meeting or to install a wind turbine, there are many situations where workers need to be on the ground and in person.”
However, a more distributed workforce does mean that companies are investing more in offsites, which require travel. And TravelPerk sees this decentralization as a perfect opportunity to gets its technology into the hands of more people.
“Decentralised travel systems empower employees to manage their own bookings, and while in the past that meant a lack of control over expenses and compliance, tools built into our platform give control and visibility back to the business by providing oversight without burdening travel managers with logistical complexities,” Taunay-Bucalo said.
“Unified travel and expense”
Founded in 2015, TravelPerk had previously raised around $660 million in equity and debt capital, and with another $200 million in the bank, the company said it’s now doubling down on its global growth plans. This includes the U.S. market, where it acquired Chicago-based rival Amtrav last year with support from $135 million in debt financing.
But these growth efforts also include expanding into tangential verticals. Among TravelPerk’s existing integrations is Yokoy, an AI-enabled spend management platform backed by Sequoia Capital. And as part of its Series E funding announcement Monday, TravelPerk said it’s now acquiring Yokoy outright for an undisclosed sum — though TechCrunch is told that it was a “nine figure” transaction, which makes sense given that Yokoy had raised around $107 million since its inception in 2019.
This will allow TravelPerk to offer a “deeper and more unified travel and expense offering,” with expenses baked natively into its core platform rather than relying exclusively on third-party integrations.
“Our focus has never been stronger as we expand across core markets, accelerate growth in the U.S., and now work to become the number one travel and expense management platform,” TravelPerk co-founder and CEO Avi Meir (pictured above) said in a statement.
This mirrors moves elsewhere in the tech realm. For example, TripActions expanded into expenses management back in 2020 in response to a pandemic that put most companies’ travel plans on long-term hiatus. Ramp, meanwhile, moved in the opposite direction in 2022, adding travel management to its existing expenses product.
Expanding into expenses makes a great deal of sense, as it future-proofs against whatever headwinds the travel sector faces today and in the future. Indeed, expenses is something that all businesses have to deal with, regardless of their position on corporate travel.
As a result of the transaction, Yokoy’s team, including CEO Philippe Sahli and CTO Devis Lussi, will join TravelPerk, where they will set about integrating their respective products.
“Our partnership with Yokoy has already been a great success, and we are excited to take it to the next level by welcoming Phil, Devis, and the rest of the team to TravelPerk,” Meir said. “We share a common vision for the role of AI reshaping the future of travel and expense management, and the innovation coming out of Yokoy’s AI labs in Zurich is seriously impressive.”
TravelPerk’s Series E round was led by European venture capital firm Atomico, with participation from EQT Growth, Noteus Partners, Kinnevik, General Catalyst, among other existing investors.
