Skift Take
Some entrepreneurs are subject to so much tunnel vision that they can't see when it's time to either pivot or give up. The themes of pivoting to B2B and targeting the vacation and short-term rental space are commonplace and it's realities like these that investors impress upon startups every day. Everyone trying to do the same thing without differentiating creates a lack of ambition, a sentiment shared by some investors we recently spoke to.
Travel startups attracted billions of dollars in funding last year, and the travel booking sector attracted some of the most investment -- more than $650 million.
Skift has tracked travel startup funding over the last year and found that startups involved with helping travelers book hotels, alternative accommodations, and air travel garnered the most funding of any travel sector and the most individual investments.
By Skift's count, there were at least 50 separate investments made in travel booking startups in 2015 with India's Tuija and Oyo Rooms receiving some of the largest single investments at $300 million and $100 million, respectively. Ground transportation startups were next, receiving a collective $444 million, and these included peer-to-peer on-demand ride and car-pooling apps.
We didn't include the huge funding rounds for existing companies like Uber, Lyft, GrabTaxi, and Didi Kuaidi in that total as we wanted to illustrate what's happening with smaller mobile on-demand ride companies just breaking into the sector. We've also left out Airbnb, which raised $1.5 billion in 2015. Needless to say, what these existing companies raised in 2015 was significant, and you can read more about the activity in this story.
B2B-related startups attracted the third highest funding level at about $192 million. We're basing our analysis only on funding rounds that were disclosed and that were at least $1 million or more for a single round. While not every funding round for every travel startup is included in our data, these numbers are still representative of what took place in 2015.
In this story, you'll read our funding tallies and analysis, my picks for five travel startups to watch, and a Q&A with three investors.
The Five Travel Sectors That Attracted the Most Funding in 2015
Sector
Total Amount Raised
Number of rounds
Travel Booking
$651.75 million
52
Ground Transportation
$444.7 million*
16
B2B
$192.5 million
16
Tours and Activities
$120.5 million
12
Trip Planning and Inspiration
$61.4 million
23
*Doesn't include funding from larger companies such as Uber, Lyft, GrabTaxi, or Didi Kuaidi.
Source: Skift, Crunchbase, AngelList
It's worth emphasizing that startups within these sectors aren't guaranteed success simply because investors threw large sums of money at vacation rental or hotel metasearch and tours and activities companies, for example. The vast majority of travel
