Traveltech startup Omio raises $100m to strengthen position as global travel platform

Traveltech startup Omio raises $100m to strengthen position as global travel platform

Published: 19-08-2020 14:40:00 | By: Pie Kamau | hits: 5051 | Tags:

Omio, formerly GoEuro, Europe’s leading multi-modal travel booking platform, announced it has secured $100 million in investments from existing and new investors including Temasek, Kinnevik, Goldman Sachs Asset Management L.P., NEA and Kleiner Perkins.

The funding will allow Omio to pursue its vision of unifying global transport with end to end consumer experiences. The investments will be directed at fueling continued organic growth and opportunistic M&A activities while strengthening the company's unique product and service offering: All transport options (including Rail, Bus, Flights, Ferries, Rental Cars, and Car Sharing) diversified across 37 countries in Europe and Northern America under the Omio brand, combined with global reach through the planning engine Rome2Rio, which offers search and discovery of transport to and from more than 10 million locations worldwide.

Naren Shaam, Founder and CEO of Omio, said: “Travel is an eternal need and I have no doubt in the comeback of the industry. We have seen a very promising recovery of our business over the past weeks, based on the unique strength of our product which includes all modes of transport across multiple markets. Especially in Germany and France, we are already above 50 percent of our pre-Covid-19 bookings despite marginal marketing spend. However, consumer expectations are changing and the industry will need to evolve to new standards and provide new products with a strong focus on sustainability. We will use the fresh capital to drive this change.”

Jan Kemper, Managing Director and CFO of Omio, said: “When the COVID-19 crisis hit the travel industry, our team made an incredible effort to switch from growth mode into a manage-to-cash organization within weeks. At the same time we started discussions with existing and selected new investors to make sure that we can ramp up our financial head-room for the coming years. Our strong network of financial partners has been key to our ability to manage through this challenging period and will help us quickly return into growth mode. The funding underlines our investors’ confidence in our strategy and the long term potential of our diversified, asset-light business model.”

Omio has already experienced a stronger bounce-back in travel bookings than expected. This has been driven by a clear change in consumer behavior towards more ground transportation, combined with an accelerating shift towards app usage as consumers prefer to avoid kiosks and long queues. Omio actively supported this shift by continuing to improve and expand its services, for example through the launch of its Open Travel Index (OTI) to help travelers easily understand where they can travel to within Europe and Northern America.

www.omio.com