The idea of Locomote was born when Melbourne-based cousins Ross and David Fastuca (pictured) spoke to corporations about their problems booking their travel and found out what a disjointed experience it was.
“There were problems with duty of care, risk management, customer complaints with existing platforms, adoption rates and we asked the question, why are things the way they are? The answer was always the same, that’s the way it is and the way it used to be,” David, co-founder and chief marketing officer (left ), told WIT.
“We felt there had to be a better way, and so we put ourselves in their shoes,” he added. “We had worked together for 15 years in a web and marketing agency and we had always wanted to build a product.”
And so the two went to work with the ambitious goal of becoming a leader in business travel technology.
Said Ross in this interview with The Age, “You can book your leisure travel online very easily. You don’t talk to anybody and you can do it without too much fuss. For corporate travel, for whatever reason, it seems to be way behind the eight ball.
“You still have manual interaction and there are all these different forms. We also found that the booking aspect of corporate travel is just one element. There’s also financial savings, duty of care, corporate governance, and operational efficiency. Corporates also need their travel and expenses to be managed easily. It’s not as simple as booking a trip to Hawaii – there are all sorts of things that have to be taken into consideration.”
They originally conceptualised Locomote as a pre-trip workflow platform but the bigger objective was to develop a corporate travel platform that would enable companies to discuss, request and book travel from any device wherever they may be around the world. So in 2014, the Fastuca cousins launched Locomote.
In a nutshell, their tech platform, which won a gold in the Asia Pacific Stevie awards this April, “simplifies booking and approval processes for travellers and saves money for companies”.
The work must have paid off because in 2015, Travelport acquired a 55% share in the Melbourne-based startup. Although terms were not disclosed, media reports peg it at valued from $50 million to $100 million.
Said David, “We believe Travelport is the best there is in corporate travel and if we wanted to change buying behaviour, we needed a GDS partner that shared the vision of Locomote.”
At the time of the acquisition, Travelport CEO Gordon Wilson said the deal was part of the company’s wider strategy to grow its Beyond Air division (areas outside of airline distribution), with Locomote in particular giving it a “much bigger footprint” into the corporate world.
Asked if being part of a corporate like Travelport could compromise the entrepreneurial spirit, David said Locomote’s team which has grown to more than 50 is responsible for the tech development and marketing of the platform. “We take the lead in the business with incredible support from Travelport.”
It is clear however that Travelport is stepping up its involvement. This week, Locomote announced the appointment of Bryan Carroll as chief operating officer and Pio Spibey-Dodd as chief financial officer. Both come from Travelport where they worked respectively as VP Commercial and Commercial Finance Director. Aleksandra Bugajewska has also been named People & Culture Leader.
CEO Sandra McLeod said the appointment of the new hires positions Locomote for continued success as it establishes itself as a global player in the corporate travel industry.
“Over the past six months alone, Locomote has developed strategic partnerships with world-leading enterprises such as Allianz. The team has laid the groundwork to take Locomote from startup to an unrivalled corporate travel platform that will redefine the way business travel is managed. I’m confident that we now have the right team in place to successfully execute against our long term plans.”
Today, Locomote manages travel for a string of major Australian corporates including Medibank, the University of Tasmania, University of Southern Queensland, international law firm Allen & Overy, and World Vision Australia, among others.
David said Melbourne was a good place for a start-up. “We have a nice little community here, and we share what we are doing.”
The multi-modal search site Rome2rio is also based in Melbourne.
