Skift Global Forum Preview: Kiwi.com CEO Wants to Build a Rival to Expedia
Photo Credit: A view inside the Kiwi.com offices in Brno, Czech Republic. Oliver Dlouhý, Kiwi.com Co- Founder and CEO, will speak at Skift Global Forum in New York City in September 2019. Kiwi
Skift Take
Setting up a site for selling plane tickets is fairly easy. Building a startup into a globally recognized travel agency is much harder. Kiwi.com's CEO Oliver Dlouhý believes his company can defy the odds. But what comes next may be the toughest part of the journey.
Oliver Dlouhý co-founded the online travel agency Kiwi.com in 2012 as a price-comparison website for cheap airplane tickets. Dlouhý has since expanded the mission of his startup to become a broader online travel agency and technology services company.
In June, U.S. private-equity firm General Atlantic took majority control of the company, based in the Czech Republic. The deal suggests the business has a shot at becoming a global household name in travel. On Monday, it appointed Daniel Finnegan, the former chief financial officer of Booking Holdings as an independent Board Director.
It's been a wild ride for the 31-year-old Dlouhý. Last year, his company processed $1.21 billion (€1.1 billion) in gross bookings. Today, Kiwi.com has more than 2,900 workers.
Kiwi.com's signature service is what it calls virtual interlining, or connecting airlines which do not cooperate. It lets shoppers mix-and-match transport into a single itinerary that it backs with its own customer servic
