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Online Travel

Thayer Ventures' New Travel Tech Fund Will Be Cautious About Consumer Startups

Sean O'Neill photo
Sean O'Neill
Thayer Ventures

Photo Credit: Lee Pillsbury, the firm's newly added managing director, uses a Ferrari racetrack drive he recently took to make a point, while Thayer Ventures founding partner Chris Hemmeter looks on, at the investment firm's annual conference at the Ritz Carlton on Stockton Street in San Francisco. Sean O'Neill

Skift Take

Despite the recent attempts at corporate venture capital by JetBlue, Booking.com, and other big players, many travel companies prefer to invest in startups via traditional venture funds instead.

Entrepreneurs developing travel technology startups face not just an industry dominated by giant companies running on old, patchworked IT systems, but also present-day problems in getting access to complacent customers and patient investors. Help may be on hand for some, with the launch of a new venture capital fund investing solely in travel tech enterprises. The planned venture fund with up to $150 million available, due to having its first closing in June, is organized by Thayer Ventures, which focuses on travel technology. The new fund plans to raise capital from a mixture of strategic investors (such as suppliers, middlemen, and other industry players) and financial institutions, including pension funds and endowments. Participants in the fund haven't been confirmed or finalized. But the venture firm has attracted interest among large players in travel. Its annual conference, held Thursday at a Ritz Carlton in San Francisco, featured appearances from development executi

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