Articles tagged “funding”

As winter gives way to spring, at least in the northern hemisphere, startups raised more than $24 million to expand online travel booking and planning in the Middle East and Europe. Just in time for consumers planning summer trips.

We were skeptical of claims from Skyroam that travelers would pay a premium for seamless mobile Wi-Fi. After all, the internet has become cheap and easy to access in many destinations. But the startup has attracted millions of paying users. The lesson: There's always a premium version of an existing service waiting to be invented.

Does yet another big funding round signal that the vacation rental property market is over-heated? Nah. It's reasonable given the huge size of the opportunity and how much investment will be needed to digitize and automate the sector.

The concept of a budget brand hotel network that promises consistent amenities has been popularized by India's OYO Rooms. RedDoorz has traction with a similar model in Indonesia, which suggests the model may have legs worldwide.

Redeam doesn't recommend places to visit, call itself "a Facebook for travel", or indulge in other startup pitch clichés. It strives instead to build a solution to a pain point companies will pay to fix — namely, automating paper voucher redemptions for attractions. How refreshingly uncool.

Some investors think that patience is not only a virtue, but can also be worth a windfall. But waiting for big returns from tours and activities sector companies KKDay, Bookingkit, and TickX — which have received fresh investment rounds — may test their virtue.

Road trips remain incredibly popular in many parts of the world and are a great way to get off the beaten path. RVShare's new CEO, an ex-HomeAway executive, is likely looking to capture more than the sliver of the market it currently has.

WeTravel finds itself in a competitive payments market. The company had a good first year, and expanding to larger travel companies is likely on its to-do list.

If Interior Secretary Zinke really wanted to score some points for trying to address the National Park Service's maintenance backlog, he wouldn't make it contingent upon helping the oil industry and big business.

Investors are finally backing companies that are tackling relatively remote corners of the travel market, such as Joymode's rentals of gear for camping, beach holidays, and road trips, and Busbud's sales of intercity bus tickets.