Expedia Spent $148 Million to Buy SilverRail for Its Train Booking Tech
Photo Credit: London's Javelin rail service to the southwest of England starts at King's Cross St. Pancras station in London (shown). Expedia aims to make booking seats on such trains more widely available worldwide. Sean O'Neill
Skift Take
Expedia's purchase price for a majority stake in SilverRail was double the sum that SilverRail had raised from investors. The price tag was a multiple of the investment but not a stellar exit for shareholders.
In May, Expedia said it would acquire the train-service distributor SilverRail Technologies.
Expedia has since revealed in a financial filing its purchase price for taking a majority stake in the London-based vendor of rail retailing and distribution platforms.
The deal cost Expedia $148 million -- of which the company paid $138 million in cash.
Expedia's purchase price for a majority stake would be a multiple of the more than $70 million in funding that SilverRail raised, but it does not appear to be a stellar exit for investors. That's especially true for the investors from its latest round in 2014, which had been led by Mithril Capital Management. As Skift has noted, SilverRail had raised the more than $70 million in funding from venture firms such as Canaan Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, and Brook Venture Partners.
Yet the deal had merits. Ther
