Business Travel Platform TravelPerk Raises $200M, Doubling Valuation to $2.7B

The Barcelona-based business travel company, TravelPerk, raised $200 million in a Series E funding round, nearly doubling its valuation to $2.7 billion. The startup also announced the purchase of Yokoy, a Swiss company specializing in expense management and spend management solutions for businesses.

According to CNBC, the Spanish company will use the capital to expand to the United States, accelerate growth, and invest in new tech products and AI solutions. Atomico, EQT, and Noteus Partners were among the investors in the recent funding round.

Last year, TravelPerk raised $104 million in a funding round led by SoftBank—the Japanese company is also assuming financial responsibility in the $500 Billion ‘Stargate Project’ led by OpenAI in the U.S.—reaching unicorn status.

According to the president and chief operating officer at TravelPerk, Jean-Christophe Taunay-Bucalo, the startup has been growing because it proved to have a stable and solid product during the pandemic, and got to rebound after the challenges in the travel market during that time, gaining a good business reputation.

“Why we are doing so well now is because we had that period where you had to be strong. You had to have a good foundation, you had to be scrappy,” said Taunay-Bucalo to CNBC and explained they are focusing on long-term results. “We want to be here in 100 years… We have this almost unusually long-term view for a tech company. And as a consequence, the way we see the world is a little bit different. We don’t want to do these quick things and then get out.”

TravelPerk has over 1,500 employees and, a few months ago, acquired the American company AmTrav, a business travel management platform, as part of its strategy to expand into the U.S. market. The company has no intentions of launching an IPO and is focused on prioritizing its customers and leveraging technology, including AI, to its advantage.