Travel startup funding in Q3 dominated by earlier rounds

A glance across the travel funding landscape in the third quarter of 2024 suggests there were more rounds overall than in Q2, with Series A, B and C slightly more prominent than in the previous quarter, when Series D, E and F appeared to dominate.

Hospitality technology specialists have dominated the funding scene in the third quarter of 2024 with both hotel technology and short-term rental specialist attracting investment.

For some, the funding has come alongside restructuring and/or new partnerships. Sonder, for example, struck a licensing deal with Marriott and announced $143 million in funding as it strives to reach profitability. Similarly, Vacasa announced in August that it had secured $30 million in financing to help strengthen its balance sheet with the option of a further $45 million.

Elsewhere across the short-term rental segment, Myne raised €40 million in a Series A round to expand its vacation home co-ownership platform while vacation rental management business Host & Stay raised £10.5 million. Meanwhile, vacation rental management company Landfolk landed €10.3 million in a Series A round to drive expansion.

And, in the hotel technology arena, OYO announced $174 million in Series G funding saying it would go towards “future growth efforts”, while Mews landed $100 million in financing to help with its acquisition strategy. The company has acquired nine companies to date including two this year. Indie Campers, an RV rental company, announced €35 million to help drive growth.

The business travel segment also attracted investment in the third quarter with Hotel Engine attracting $140 million in a Series C round and rebranding to Engine as it looks to launch other verticals such as flights. In addition, corporate travel management platform Bizaway landed $35 million while Planned, a corporate travel and events specialist, also raised $35 million. Otto, an intelligence agent for business travel, which grew out of Madrona Labs and is currently in beta, attracted $6 million in a seed round.

Ground transportation was another segment that reported a number of significant rounds for the three months ended September 30, 2024. Distribusion, the B2B marketplace and technology company, raised $80 million in Series C while India-based Fresh Bus announced it had raised $10.5 million to add more vehicles to the network as well as additional routes. Moving Tech, another India-based company, landed $11 million in a pre-Series A round and said it planned it to invest in technology and product innovation.

Airline technology and distribution specialists also got a look in with Flyr adding $295 million in a Series D round and Datalex announced €25 million in fresh financing through a shares issue to strengthen its balance sheet.

Other notable rounds in the quarter were announced by Point.me with $15 million in Series B funding for its travel rewards search platform and Mindtrip, which secured a $12 million investment. In addition to Point.me, a handful of other B2C startups attracted investment including travel insurance specialist Faye which raised $35 million in Series B funding.

Meanwhile, Exoticca raised €60 million in a Series D round to further develop its platform and deploy artificial intelligence and travel subscription service Inspirato received $10 million through a shares issue. The company also announced a 15% cut in its workforce and a new chairman and CEO.

Smaller seed and Series A rounds, of between $2 million and $5 million, went into a number of companies including Turneo, Byway Travel, and Grazzy.

Acquisition activity

Activity continued in the mergers and acquisitions front with notable deals including OYO’s acquisition of Motel 6-parent company G6 Hospitality for $525 million. The Travel Corporation was acquired by asset manager Apollo Funds for an undisclosed sum. In Europe, the acquisition of Thomas Cook by Poland’s eSky Group for up to £30 million also hit the headlines.

Other deals included Blackstone’s acquisition of hotel technology specialist M3, Juniper Group’s acquisition of Lleego and the sales of Despegar’s destination management company BDExperience to Iberostar’s World2Meet. Terms for all three deals were undisclosed.