From unicorns like Airbnb and TuJia, to early-stage startups improving hotel booking and package tours, travel tech is a hot category.
Travel tech startups have been seeing considerable momentum, raising $5.2B in funding through 12/21/15. Startups in the travel tech space are making it easier to fly, tour, find lodging, and much more.
We used CB Insights data to identify 90 private companies in travel tech and mapped them according to the seven main categories where they’re operating. The 90 travel tech startups included are addressing general booking and search services as well as a range of market niches like private jet booking, among other things.
We defined travel tech as tech-enabled companies offering services and products focused on tourism, including booking services, search and planning platforms, on-demand travel, and recommendation sites. Car-hailing services are excluded.
Click on the image below to enlarge.
The breakdown is as follows:
- Booking/Search: This was the largest category in our market map and includes startups like Momondo Group and Brazil-based HotelUrbano, which are making it easier to find, compare, and book hotels and flights.
- Alternative Lodging: Startups in this category include the high-flying $25.5B unicorn AirBnB, among others. Companies in this part of the map are allowing people to book rooms in privately owned apartments and vacation homes.
- Budget Hotel Networks: Companies like OYO Rooms and Treebo Hotels aggregate small motels and hotels, certify them for quality and standards, and market the resulting network of rooms under their own brand.
- Customized Holidays: Companies in this category includes TravelBird, which offers vacation packages at convenient prices.
- Travel Tech Software: Included are software companies like Switchfly that offer customer engagement tools catering specifically to companies in the travel industry.
- Activities, Events, & Touring: Zerve and other startups focus on tours and activities that consumers pay for while on vacation.
- Private Jet Booking: Companies like Victor and BlackJet are making it easy for everyday consumers to book seats on private jets.
See the full company list, below:
| Company | Select Investors | Category |
|---|---|---|
| AirBnB | Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, Andreessen Horowitz | Alternative Lodging |
| TuJia Online Information Technology | Lightspeed China Partners, Ctrip, CDH Investments | Alternative Lodging |
| Quintess | Atlantic Capital Group | Alternative Lodging |
| Zhubaijia | AB Capital, Goldstone Investment, Neway Group and UC Ventures | Alternative Lodging |
| Wimdu | Kinnevik and Rocket Internet | Alternative Lodging |
| Onefinestay | Index Ventures, PROfounders Capital | Alternative Lodging |
| Sykes Cottages | Livingbridge | Alternative Lodging |
| StayZilla | Matrix Partners India and Nexus Venture Partners | Alternative Lodging |
| Tripping | Quest Venture Partners and RGIP | Alternative Lodging |
| Homestay Technologies | Delta Partners and Enterprise Ireland | Alternative Lodging |
| HouseTrip | Accel Partners, Balderton Capital, and Index Ventures | Alternative Lodging |
| Secret Escapes | Atlas Venture, Google Ventures, Index Ventures, and Octopus Investments | Alternative Lodging |
| Inspirato | Institutional Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers | Alternative Lodging |
| XiaoZhu | Morningside Group | Alternative Lodging |
| CouchSurfing | Benchmark Capital, Omidyar Network | Alternative Lodging |
| Luxury Retreats | iNovia Capital | Alternative Lodging |
| Nestaway Technologies | IDG Ventures India, Flipkart and Tiger Global Management | Alternative Lodging |
| HomeSuite | Foundation Capital | Alternative Lodging |
| Vacatia | Javelin Venture Partners and Maveron | Alternative Lodging |
| Veeve | Smedvig Capital | Alternative Lodging |
| 9flats | Redpoint Ventures | Alternative Lodging |
| Mayi.com | BlueRun Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, and VantagePoint Capital Partners | Alternative Lodging |
| Skyscanner | Scottish Equity Partners, Sequoia Capital | Booking/Search |
| Decolar | Expedia, Accor Services, ACON Investments, Blum Capital Partners LP, Merrill Lynch, and TPG Capital | Booking/Search |
| HotelUrbano | The Priceline Group, Insight Venture Partners, and Tiger Global Management | Booking/Search |
| HotelTonight | Accel Partners, Battery Ventures, First Round Capital | Booking/Search |
| Yatra Online | Norwest Venture Partners, Reliance Venture Asset Management | Booking/Search |
| Ostrovok | Accel Partners, General Catalyst Partners | Booking/Search |
| Cleartrip | Concur | Booking/Search |
| OneTwoTrip | Phenomen Ventures, Atomico, Goldman Sachs, Vostok New Ventures | Booking/Search |
| BravoFly Group | Ardian | Booking/Search |
| Duzhoumo | Banyan Capital, eGarden Ventures, Jason Jiang, and Legend Capital | Booking/Search |
| Viajanet | General Catalyst Partners and Redpoint e.ventures | Booking/Search |
| Lailaihui | CDH Investments and Unity Ventures | Booking/Search |
| Oktogo | Mangrove Capital Partners | Booking/Search |
| eSKY | Syntaxis Capital | Booking/Search |
| ClickBus | Rocket Internet | Booking/Search |
| Busbud | Real Ventures, iNovia Capital | Booking/Search |
| Invia.cz | MCI Capital | Booking/Search |
| BookIt.com | Monroe Capital | Booking/Search |
| Travelata | Invia.cz and MCI Capital | Booking/Search |
| LY.com | Oriza Holdings | Booking/Search |
| Momondo Group | Great Hill Partners | Booking/Search |
| GoEuro | Battery Ventures, Lakestar, Hasso Plattner Ventures | Booking/Search |
| Hipmunk | Ignition Partners, Institutional Venture Partners | Booking/Search |
| Room 77 | Felicis Ventures, General Catalyst Partners | Booking/Search |
| Gogobot | Battery Ventures, Redpoint Ventures | Booking/Search |
| Hopper | Brightspark Ventures, Accomplice | Booking/Search |
| Baicheng | Investor Growth Capital and JAFCO Asia | Booking/Search |
| Wego | Tiger Global Management | Booking/Search |
| Routehappy | Contour Venture Partners | Booking/Search |
| Aviasales | iTech Capital | Booking/Search |
| Wanderu | Alta Ventures Mexico, Craig Lentzsch, Drummond Road Capital | Booking/Search |
| Zozi | 500 Startups, Box Group | Booking/Search |
| Oyo Rooms | Greenoaks Capital Management, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital India | Budget Hotel Networks |
| Treebo Hotels | Matrix Partners India and SAIF Partners | Budget Hotel Networks |
| Wudstay Travel | Mangrove Capital Partners and Vikas Saxena | Budget Hotel Networks |
| Zo Rooms | Orios Venture Partners and Tiger Global Management | Budget Hotel Networks |
| Zen Rooms Hospitality | Ooredoo and Rocket Internet | Budget Hotel Networks |
| Nida Rooms | East Pacific Capital and True Capital Partners | Budget Hotel Networks |
| Switchfly | Azure Capital Partners and Canaan Partners | Travel Tech Software |
| Mondee | GTCR | Travel Tech Software |
| Rocketrip | Canaan Partners and Genacast Ventures | Travel Tech Software |
| Triptease | Episode 1 Partners and Notion Capital | Travel Tech Software |
| Yapta | Voyager Capital | Travel Tech Software |
| Baoku | AsiaInfo-Linkage and China Broadband Capital | Travel Tech Software |
| JetSmarter | Wayne Chang and Jay-Z | Private Jet Booking |
| Victor | Andrew Pisker, Clive Jackson, and Tim Richards | Private Jet Booking |
| PrivateFly | Undisclosed Investors | Private Jet Booking |
| BlackJet | First Round Capital, SV Angel | Private Jet Booking |
| JetSuite | Tony Hsieh | Private Jet Booking |
| Beacon | MI Ventures, Romulus Capital, and Western Technology Investment | Private Jet Booking |
| Surf Air | Base Ventures, Anthem Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates | Private Jet Booking |
| Marco Vasco | Alven Capital | Customized Holiday Packaging |
| HolidayME | Al Sanie Group | Customized Holiday Packaging |
| TripFactory | Aarin Capital | Customized Holiday Packaging |
| TravelBird | Rocket Internet, Global Founders Capital | Customized Holiday Packaging |
| WAYN | Draper Esprit, Scottish Equity Partners | Customized Holiday Packaging |
| Travador | Capnamic Ventures, Iris Capital, XAnge Private Equity, ProSiebenSat.1 Media | Activities, Events, Touring, & Info Services |
| Peek Travel | SV Angel, Khosla Ventures, Innovation Endeavors | Activities, Events, Touring, & Info Services |
| Zerve | Draper Fisher Jurvetson and New Atlantic Ventures | Activities, Events, Touring, & Info Services |
| Triposo Labs | InterWest Partners | Activities, Events, Touring, & Info Services |
| GetYourGuide | Highland Capital Partners and Spark Capital | Activities, Events, Touring, & Info Services |
| Vayable | Crunchfund, 500 Startups | Activities, Events, Touring, & Info Services |
| Headout | DreamIt Ventures | Activities, Events, Touring, & Info Services |
| Roadtrippers | CincyTech and Drive Capital | Activities, Events, Touring, & Info Services |
| Woqu | Morningside Group and Tencent | Activities, Events, Touring, & Info Services |
| Mafengwo | QiMing Venture Partners, Capital Today | Activities, Events, Touring, & Info Services |
| Quewo Information Technology | Redpoint Ventures | Activities, Events, Touring, & Info Services |
| Qyer | UTour International | Activities, Events, Touring, & Info Services |
Want more information on travel tech companies? Check out our venture capital database below.