All-Star Investors Katzenberg, Thiel, and Tosi Take Stake in Travel Startup Flyr
Photo Credit: An Air New Zealand Boeing 777-200ER on the ground. The carrier has been adopting revenue management software from tech vendor Flyr, a startup selling revenue management software to airlines, has secured $150 million in funding in a round led by WestCap. Source: Fraser Clements for Air New Zealand Air New Zealand / Fraser Clements for Air New Zealand
Skift Take
The WestCap Group has led a $150 million round in Flyr, a startup that helps travel companies boost their revenue. "Mogul management" appears to be the new "revenue management."
It's rare for young travel startups to draw luminary investors early on. Yet Flyr Labs, which has only been selling business intelligence software to airlines for about a year, revealed it had closed a $150 million equity financing round led by WestCap Group and supported by several high-profile backers. Private equity giant Silver Lake also joined as a new investor.
WestCap is a growth equity firm founded by Laurence Tosi, the former chief financial officer at Airbnb and Blackstone. Wndr, a firm founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former chairman of Walt Disney Studios and the co-founder of Dreamworks, also invested. Peter Thiel, the PayPal founder and best-selling author of Zero to One, personally took a stake, leading the firm's Series A round and participating in the rounds since.
"Airlines have historically struggled to invest in back-end enterprise technology," said Laurence Tosi. "It's the only sector I can think of that collectively spun all their technology out because th
