Travel Tech M&A 2015-2017 and 10 Start-ups to watch

Selected Travel Tech M&A 2015-2017

CTrip, Expedia, Priceline and TripAdvisor dominate travel tech deal-making

10 Travel Tech Start-ups to watch 

As technology moves centre stage in the travel sector, hundreds of start-ups are competing to break through. Our selection of 10 start-ups to watch is by no means exhaustive, but features a series of exciting companies that have already experienced some success and which are tipped to go on to even bigger and better things.

Proxce – Silicon Valley start-up Proxce has won a string of awards for its real world identity management system, which provides a secure and seamless hotel check-in experience. The business has so far raised $1.6m of seed funding.
EasyGuests – A global platform enabling those letting out their homes for short-term periods on sites such as Airbnb to offer a range of concierge services, EasyGuests now has a presence in six cities on three different continents.
RDV Voyage – An online travel platform through which travellers can manage their entire trip, RDV caters to a market looking for a one-stop-shop for travel arrangements, with personalised advice and planning.
Magpie Travel – An online community that aims to introduce women travellers to one another, as well as to local women in their destinations, Magpie is building user numbers fast as it leverages ideas such as the sharing economy.
Poshberry – Focused on the loyalty and reward program markets, Poshberry targets clients seeking value in business and first class tickets at preferential rates. The business raised $500,000 worth of seed funding last year.

Alltherooms – An increasingly significant player in meta search, AlltheRooms’ technologies are capable of scraping out all the room possibilities in a given location, from Airbnb to the hotel sector. It now has more than 7 million accommodations bookable on its site, half the total global market.
Heyjude – With an app offering a personal assistant service. Hey Jude says its USP is that its artificial intelligence technology is backed up by human beings based in a South African call centre. The company has picked up $250,000 of funding so far.
Polarsteps – Offering an app that enables travellers to automatically blog their trip to friends and family reading and watching back home, or to anyone else who might be interested, Amsterdam-based Polarsteps raised €500,000 worth of funding last year.
Flyr – This data specialist uses sophisticated analysis to predict future travel pricing, enabling it to offer a range of financial products centred on price, distribution and underwriting. Flyr has been through a series of funding rounds, including an $8m Series A financing in January led by Peter Thiel.
Bluesmart – A global travel company that launched the world’s first smart connected luggage, Bluesmart got going with $2m worth of backing from Indiegogo investors. The company’s technology is based on 3G and GPS functionality and it has carved out a niche for itself.

You can take a look at our investment in Travel Tech industry.

TripTease receives a £1M Venture Debt from BOOST&Co