TravelPerk becomes the new Barcelona unicorn

The story that began in an apartment in Raval has just become Barcelona's new unicorn, after achieving a valuation of more than 1.1 billion euros, joining the list of companies with a value exceeding one billion created in the Catalan capital that include Glovo and Wallbox. Israeli Avi Meir and Salvadoran Javier Suárez founded TravelPerk in 2015 to provide a digital response to an orphaned market, that of business travel. They had met at Booking, to whom Meir had sold Hotel Ninjas, a platform for managing reservations also originated in the Catalan capital. With rental prices too expensive, the first office of this now millionaire startup was set up in Suárez's apartment, as journalist Mar Galtés recounts in Barcelona Startup.

Much has happened since then, with Meir remaining alone in management, but the vision the two founders had six years ago has proven correct. TravelPerk agency, which is responsible for the online contracting and management of business trips, has achieved unicorn status after expanding the Series D round it closed last April with an additional 115 million dollars ---about 101.2 million euros---, achieving a total financing of 275 million dollars ---242.2 million euros---. With this expansion, the investment achieved by the company since its creation has risen to 409 million dollars ---around 340 million euros---.

The round has been led by a new investor, General Catalyst, and another that already participated in the company, Kinnevik. The former president and CEO of Booking, Gillian Tans, has invested personally in the round and will join the board of directors. So will Joel Cutler, managing director of General Catalyst and investor in other companies such as Stripe, Airbnb, and Kayak. In the past, other investors who have trusted TravelPerk include Target Global, Felix Capital, Spark Capital, LocalGlobe, Heartcore, Amplo, or 14W.

Speaking to The New Barcelona Post, Meir points out that the new funding will be used to improve its technology, redoubling efforts to develop sustainable travel solutions for SMEs that fit into the new era of hybrid work. "As companies continue to adapt to the changes brought about by covid-19, they face a great challenge: how to maintain in-person human connections, essential for building relationships and company culture, at a time when flexibility and sustainability are non-negotiable for both employees and leaders," he reasons. In this regard, the company recently launched TravelPerk Events, a tool that helps different teams within a company meet face-to-face and which it will continue to develop in 2022.

The resources obtained will also serve to boost expansion in TravelPerk's main markets, the United States and Europe. In 2021, it acquired companies such as the British Click Travel and the American NextTravel. The company, which does not make its turnover public, only states that since 2019 it has quadrupled its annualized revenue and doubled its customer acquisition rate. With a workforce of 600 employees, the company's headquarters are in Barcelona, where more than 400 professionals work and it plans to hire more in this new phase of global growth. It also has offices in London, Birmingham, Berlin, Chicago and Miami.

"Very proud" to be one of the few unicorns born in Barcelona

Shortly after the company's ascent to unicorn status was announced, one of the few born in Barcelona, Meir and his team feel "very proud" to have that responsibility. "When we founded TravelPerk, we wanted a home city that reflected our company's culture and identity. Barcelona is exactly that: vibrant, dynamic and full of ambition and opportunities, and a fantastic destination to attract and retain the best technical talent from around the world," explains Meir, who has also criticized on other occasions the obstacles that the Catalan capital places on entrepreneurship and the excessive bureaucracy that must be complied with.