Israeli-founded travel tech outfit TripActions raises $300m at over $9b valuation

US-based travel tech company TripActions, founded by Israeli entrepreneurs, raised another $300 million in equity and debt financing from investors in a new Series G round that values it at over $9 billion, the company announced on Wednesday.

TripActions has been eyeing a public offering but has given no specific timing. Bloomberg reported in August that the company was confidentially filing documents with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an upcoming listing.

The new round of financing for TripActions is a combination of $154 million in equity from new and existing financial investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, as well as $150 million in structured financing led by global investment firm Coatue Management.

The company raised $275 million at a valuation of $7.25 billion last fall. The lastest round marks a third round of fundraising for the company in three years.

Founded in 2015 by Ilan Twig and Ariel Cohen, TripActions set out to overhaul corporate travel, building an AI-powered platform that centralizes trip bookings including flights, hotels, car rentals and transfers, as well as tracks expenses and provides 24/7 personalized global support for executives and employees.

In 2020, the company launched TripActions Liquid in the US, a payment solution that combines corporate cards with expense management software for employers to keep track of the travel budget and for employees to use for work-related costs.

“No other company is able to provide a single, unified T&E [travel and expense] solution for enterprise companies on a global scale,” Cohen has said.

Though the company took a hit at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as the travel industry was severely disrupted, it appears to have bounced back with significant growth.

Cohen told CNBC on Wednesday that business travel was rebounding quickly and that TripActions was set to end the year with a five-fold growth rate on bookings through the platform and a seven-fold rate on expenses filings.

“We are growing very fast,” he said, adding that the company secured “an upround [a round of financing where a company’s valuation increases] in a down market, which tells you a lot about the strength of our business right now.”

TripActions said in a statement that the funding will be used to further expand and build on its recent acquisitions over the past 18 months of travel management companies Reed & Mackay, Comtravo and Resia. The company also plans to launch TripActions Liquid in Europe and open new office locations in Portugal, Germany, France and the UK.

Based in Palo Alto, TripActions established an R&D branch in Israel in 2021.

TripActions currently employs more than 2,500 people across nearly 60 global offices, as of July, the company said.

Cohen told CNBC the company’s draw stemmed from its overhaul of antiquated practices in corporate travel such as bookings through travel agents.

“Nobody in this industry is growing at our pace and we are actually changing the industry,” he said, noting that, given the growth pace, TripActions’ $9.2 billion valuation was “fair.”

“From the start, TripActions revolutionized business travel by automating, personalizing and professionalizing the experience,” said Ben Horowitz, co-founder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, in a statement. “Despite a pandemic that brought business travel to a standstill, the company doubled down on innovation and now those bets are paying off in a big way.”

Dan Rose, chairman at Coatue Ventures who is set to join TripActions’ board of directors as an observer said: “All road warriors have experienced the pain of booking flights, making last-minute changes and submitting expenses. TripActions is bringing modern software to make all of this more seamless. And at a time when companies are more focused than ever on controlling expenses, TripActions saves enterprise companies money by aligning employees’ incentives with the business.”