Venture capital Investment into travel technology
startups hit more than $5.2 billion in 2015 with 348 deals, according to
research firm CB Insights.
The $5.2 billion was an increase of 125% over the
amount of funding in 2014. The number of deals was up 42% over 2014 and 490%
over 2010.
From 2010-2015, early-stage rounds of investments
accounted for the largest number of deals made, followed by mid-stage deals and
then late-stage deals. However, late-stage deals have garnered the largest
dollar share of all investments, followed by mid-stage then early-stage.
From 2010-2015, Airbnb received the most funding at $2.3
billion, followed by LY.com (a Chinese ticketing website) at $1.2 billion and
TuJia Online Information Technology (an online marketplace for vacation rentals
that is also based in China) at $464 million.
Investment in travel technology start-ups by corporations
also has increased, according to CB Insights’ data. In 2015, they invested $2.2
billion, up from $987 million in 2014 and $201 million in 2013. There were 66
deals in 2015, 51 in 2014 and 24 in 2013.
The most active company was Chinese conglomerate
Tencent, followed by travel and expense management firm Concur. The No. 3 spot
was a tie between Recruit Strategic Partners (the investment arm of Japanese
media giant Recruit) and Google Ventures. The No. 4 spot was a tie between BMW
i Ventures and T-Venture (the venture capital company of Deutsche Telekom).
CB Insights defined travel technology as “tech-enabled
companies offering services and products focused on tourism, including booking
services, search and planning platforms, on-demand travel, and recommendation
sites.”
Notably, car-hailing services Uber and Lyft were not
included.