Fresh from a funding round of £80 million (US$126 million) valuing the company at more than £132 million, Momondo Group is set to expand its global footprint and expand to new and emerging markets, CEO Hugo Burge said at the WIT Conference in October.
The cash investment, which came from Boston-based private equity fund, Great Hill Partners, valuing it at more than £132 million, will be used to grow its business and leverage on the double-digit growth in the travel meta market. Plans are to build on its international growth plans by expanding to new and emerging markets and develop its metasearch model for mobile.
Hugo Burge: Momondo dipping its toes in Asia
According to the statement announcing the Great Hill Partners’ investment, “Momondo Group has seen explosive international growth, with more than 85% of group revenues now generated outside the UK, driven by a host of new launches including new country-specific sites in China, South Africa, Brazil, Canada and Australia.”
Burge, who became CEO of Cheapflights Media in May 2010, was part of the investor group that bought the Cheapflights UK business from John Hatt, the founder, in March 2000. He has been instrumental in growing the company from a three-person attic operation in London into an international leader in travel search with a dedicated presence in more than 20 countries and markets – and more than 15 million users a month.
In March 2011, he led the acquisition of the Danish meta search site network, momondo, and renamed the group Momondo. An experienced investor himself, he founded the internet investment fund HOWZAT Media in 2007 and made good wins through their investments that included trivago, the German-based hotel meta search, which was acquired by Expedia.
Burge, who’s attended WIT for two consecutive years, is clearly interested in expanding in Asia. Currently the group, through its two consumer brands of Cheapflughts and momondo, are well established in the UK and Europe. Flight comparison site, Cheapflights, is dominant in the UK, Russia and non English-speaking countries, while momondo is the leading player in meta search and online travel in the Nordic countries. Asia will fit nicely into the picture.
Cheapflights sites are up in some Asian countries.
Burge said the new funding would enable the group to continue with its strong growth to spread its presence to Asia and in other emerging markets.
The company, he added, is already “dipping its toes” in Asia. Last year Cheapflights went to Malaysia, the Philippines and Australia, while momondo made its way to China and Hong Kong. Australia is also a key market in the region to be developed.
The Asian region presently contributes 20% of Momondo group’s business, and Burge is confident the percentage will grow. “Asia is growing fast, and is a big market to tap. China is interesting and response is good. We launched the app and just within 24 hours there were 120,000 downloads.”
Momondo is working with local partners, such as Qunar in China, to cultivate the Asian markets.
Burge, however, was non-committal when asked if the expansion includes setting up offices in key Asian cities, like Beijing/Shanghai or Tokyo, in addtion to its offices in London (UK), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Boston (US).
Momondo Group is developing its meta search model for mobile.
On what is Momondo’s competitive edge, as it is competing in a space against biggies like Kayak, Skyscanner and Google, Burge answered: “Our strength is our two brand strategy, with Cheapflights offering the best flight search and momondo as the cool meta search engine with great speed offering wide coverage from hotels to flights, car hire and holiday rental. momondo is also the first company in Europe to have train search. We’re looking at including coaches too.”
Another edge: “We’re passionate about our work, we live and breathe our brands to make a difference.”
Where does the group see itself three years from now?
Burge said: “We take each year as it comes. Meta search is the fastest growing space. The Momondo group has expanded rapidly over the last two years, and we’re well-positioned to capitalise on this growth in the meta travel sector with Asia featuring highly in it.”
According to statistics from Momondo, in January 2014 the group received 19 million visits across its portfolio of momondo and Cheapflights websites. For the 2013 calendar year its total downstream revenue (revenue generated for airlines and partners) was in excess of £2.8 billion, while group revenues were in excess of £43.3 million.
