If corporate travel sector has been waiting for its moment of metamorphosis, Travelstop is one of the catalysts. Re-affirming corporate travel’s position as the next sector in line for disruption, the Singapore-based startup has raised $3 million in pre-Series A funding.
Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Accel led the investment round, with participation from Strive (formerly GREE Ventures), and existing investor SeedPlus. It comes less than a year since Travelstop’s launch, after the business raised its first $1.2million, led by SeedPlus. Travelstop will also see Prashanth Prakash (partner, Accel) join the Board of Directors.
In January, the startup had already embarked on its expansion into seven new markets to cement its position as the go-to business travel and expense-management platform in the region.
The latest injection of funding will be used to continue developing its technology to build its enterprise-grade modern expense management platform for high-growth companies in Asia.
Specifically, it wants to boost its supply of travel inventory by working with multiple suppliers. Most significantly, Travelstop announced its latest partnership with Traveloka to offer a full suite of services from flights, hotels, ground transport, insurance, alternative accommodation and more.
Said Travelstop CEO, Prashant Kirtane, “Traveloka is one of the fastest growing companies in Asia, and they offer the best inventory and rates for flights and hotels for Asia. Indonesia is one of our largest markets and we are focused on simplifying business travel and automating expense management for high growth companies in Indonesia and Traveloka is a perfect partner for us in our endeavour.”
While more of a leisure-travel platform, it aligns with Kirtane’s ambition “to bring all the product innovation happening in the consumer space to the enterprise world.” It is arguably reflective of the business’ progressive attitudes towards blurring the lines between travel sectors to deliver more advanced services to customers.
For example, beyond its supply, the startup is also focused on improving the post-booking experience, by offering proactive support mechanisms for travellers.
“[We’re] building tools that constantly monitor schedule changes or flight disruptions, and reaching out to travellers proactively to reschedule and plan alternatives. We also want to make sure that the travellers can reach out to us at any time with ease… by offering proactive 24×7 support.”
Its efforts seem to be paying off as Travelstop reports a customer satisfaction score of 98%, and a travel booking gross merchandise volume of 100% growth month-on-month.
