Multiday tour booking specialist TourRadar has
secured a massive $50 million funding round and enlisted the help of an
ex-Expedia executive.
The Series C round is led by Technology Crossover Ventures,
with the investment giant's venture partner Erik Blachford coming onboard as an
adviser.
Previous investors Cherry Ventures, Endeit Capital, Hoxton
Ventures and Speedinvest have all returned to participate in the latest round.
TourRadar raised a Series B of $10 million in November 2017.
The investment is the largest in the tours and activities
sector since GetYourGuide and Klook brought in $75 million and $60 million,
respectively, in late 2017.
Last week, fellow brand Peek announced a Series B round of
$23 million.
TourRadar CEO Travis Pittman concedes the new round is a lot
of money -- it has now taken in around $66 million in finding since its
formation in 2010 -- but says there are a number of strategic moves that it
will take as a result of the latest backing.
Speaking to PhocusWire, he says the company will increase
the headcount in the company, specifically in technology and marketing. It
currently has around 130 people.
There will be a "heavy mobile focus" going
forward, he says, plus the current English-only provision will change with new
language versions of the brand appearing in new markets.
Other elements include the continued rollout of personalization
technology, including its recommendation engine, and continued investment in
its video content creation service.
Pittman says: "Word had started to spread in the VC
world that we had a good 2017, and that 2018 had started strong, so we began
having a number of pre-emptive Series C round conversations with funds in both
Europe and the U.S.
"We weren't planning on raising until later in 2018 or
early-2019, but due to Erik's prior involvement in TourRadar and being a
venture partner at TCV, a conversation was started with John Doran and his team
in London at TCV, where things began to move at a pretty quick pace."
TourRadar's focus on bookings for multi-day tours, rather
than what many of its fellow brands have concentrated on with attraction
tickets and one-day trips, has not been without its challenges.
Pittman says the "combination and complexity of
connecting to technically-challenged supply" is what makes the market
unique.
Other issues that it faces are around understanding the
requirements of a "customer buying a high-value product six to 12 months
out from departure," he added.
The company is focused on "ultimately being able to
deliver the right customer experience (both on and offsite 24/7) to give a
traveler the confidence to put down their credit card for a $5,000 tour."
TCV has backed the likes of Airbnb, HomeAway, Netflix,
SiteMinder, Spotify, Vice and Zillow.
Blachford was president and CEO of IAC Travel and oversaw
the early growth of Expedia, Hotels.com and Hotwire.
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Source: PhocusWire