Travel Startup fundraising data 2021

Using Travel Tech Essentialist’s Startups and Investors dataset, there are 145 travel startups that have raised at least one financing round in 2021.

In summary:

Age

The oldest company receiving a funding round is TravelTek, founded in 1995. Six companies born in 2021 received a fundraising round this year, including Zytlyn from Switzerland and Kokomo from Mexico.

Amount

A total of $8.8 billion has been raised in the last round by these by 145 startups. The median investment has been $9 million. South Korean OTA Yanolja had the largest round, with a $1.7 billion investment by sole investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

Geography

Continent/Region

• Europe —> 54 startups (37% of total)

• USA+Canada —> 54 (37%)

• Asia Pacific —> 19 (13%)

• Middle East, Latin America, Australia and Africa —> 17 (13%) combined

Country

• USA —> 48 startups (33% of total).

• UK —> 14 (10%)

• Germany and Spain —> 10 (7%) each

• Canada and India —> 5 (3.5%) each

• 36 other countries —> 53 startups (37%)

City

The 145 startups that received funding in 2021 come from 87 cities. The most represented cities are:

• San Francisco —> 12 startups (8% of total). Largest rounds to FLYR Labs ($150 million) and Pacaso ($125 million)

• London —> 11 (7.5%). Largest rounds to Hopin ($450 million) and OTA Insight ($80 million)

• Barcelona —> 7 (5%). Largest rounds to TraveklPerk ($160 million) and Exoticca ($54 million)

• New York —> 7 (5%). Largest rounds to Cover Genius ($72 million) and Spotnana ($34 million)

• Berlin —> 5 (3.5%). Largest rounds to GetYourGuide ($95 million) and TIER Mobility ($58 million)

• Munich —> 4. Largest rounds to FlixBus ($650 million) and Holidu ($45 million)

• Tel Aviv —> 4. Largest rounds to Optibus ($107 million) and Guesty ($50 million)

Investors

640 Venture Capital firms and Angel investors have participated in the funding rounds for the 145 travel startups this year. The most active investors are:

• SoftBank —> 9 startups (2 from the USA, 2 from Germany, and 1 from Colombia, Brazil, Vietnam, South Korea and India)

• 500 Startups, Accel, Heartcore Capital —> 4 startups

• 13 VCs including Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JetBlue Technology Ventures, K Fund, Tiger Global —> 3 startups

Categories

Macro

Four categories were responsible for almost 75% of the rounds.

• B2B (tech and services for travel suppliers & airports) —> 40 startups (27% of the total).

• Transportation (Air, Ground, Rail, Maritime) —> 26 startups (18%)

• OTAs, Travel Agencies, Booking Engines, Metasearches —> 23 startups (16%)

• Hospitality, Accommodations, Vacation Rentals, Property Management —> 19 startups (13%)

• 5 other categories —> 37 startups (74%)

Micro

The most represented micro categories are: Hospitality, Ground Transportation, SaaS, Business and Corporate, Hotel Tech.

---

If you’re interested in digging deeper into data from more 906 travel startups and 1905 VCs and angel investors, the Travel Startup and Investor dataset is a good place to start.

Entrepreneurs who have access to these datasets seem satisfied:

I just subscribed to both the datasets that you had recently announced & I feel it was the best $120 I ever spent. Just the 1st insight I came across on ancillary revenue would probably save me so much time in research as I am building my pitch for the next fund raise. Thank you so much for putting this together. Looking forward to more stellar stuff like this. — Ankit Sawant