Palo Alto, California-based TripActions, an integrated travel provider and expense management tool, is reportedly in talks with investors to raise a new round of funding. The latest round by the company that has never slouched at the fundraising front is being negotiated at $9 billion valuation.
The 7-year-old company is luring investors to put their money in the private limited company as the publicly listed companies on the stock market are beating, and travel in general and business travel in particular is showing signs of recovery amid leniency pandemic-induced restriction.
The travel and expense management firm last raised $275 million in October as part of its Series F funding led by investors including Greenoaks Capital, Base Partners and entrepreneur Elad Gill. The last round brought the company’s valuation to $ 7.25 million, indicating that the proposed new round will add significantly to its valuation.
TripActions was funded in 2015 to provide an end-to-end corporate card, expense management, and travel platform. Trusted by its clients as the company’s Liquid leverage real-time data help companies to keep their traveling employees safe, reduce spending, and drive productivity.
TripActions has been on an acquiring spree to strengthen its business
This month, TripActions entered into a partnership with Deutche Lufthansa AG on a digital travel booking portal for small and medium-sized businesses. The company claims to have 9,000 customers, including Lyft Inc. and Pinterest Inc., on its website. Since the beginning of 2021, it has been active, anticipating the travel industry’s urge due to the easing of pre-pandemic travel restrictions.
In February, the company acquired Comtravo, a travel company in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavia. With the purchase, the company’s total investment in Europe and the United Kingdom amounted to around $400 million.
Earlier, in May 2021, with the market indicating that travel spending is set to surge, TripActions snapped London-based travel and events service, Reed & Mackay. In its report, the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has mentioned that business travel spending is set to rise, and the segment will fully recover by 2024.
The GBTA report highlighted that the business travel spending hit the rock-bottom in 2020 after the Global Pandemic Outbreak, with a 50 percent overall dip. However, various media reports suggest that this segment recovered post-pandemic with a 14 percent recovery in 2021, amounting to $754 million in value. It has been further forecasted that by the end of 2024, it will reach a whopping $148 million in value.