Presenting the top investors in travel tech 2023

Startups are the lifeblood of the global travel industry –
bringing new strategies and products to the market and often spurring established
companies to innovate.

In recent years, travel startup activity has been brisk, partly
fueled by the pandemic that gave entrepreneurs time – and impetus
– to problem-solve. 

Each November PhocusWire publishes its selection of the 25 travel
startups poised to stand out in the coming year. Of those on our Hot 25 list
last fall, 14 were founded since the start of 2020.

This influx of innovation has not gone unnoticed by investors, who
play a pivotal role in the startup ecosystem – not just for the capital they
provide founders to grow and scale their businesses but also for the industry connections,
expertise and market validation their funding can provide.

Understanding the investment landscape is crucial not just for
startups seeking investment – the strategies of the most active investors in
travel tech can also give us a view of emerging trends and market shifts.

While the current macroeconomic environment is challenging, it is also encouraging to see some travel startups attracting significant rounds recently, notably $175 million for Hostaway and $194 million for GetYourGuide.

The list

PhocusWire’s
sister brand, Phocuswright, tracks funding to startups from around the world
every day. Phocuswright’s
State of Travel Startups database currently includes more than 4,600
companies that have generated more than 8,500 funding rounds from almost 7,400
investors since the early 2000s.

To bring more transparency to investors’ activity and strategies, PhocusWire is launching this new feature, which will publish annually. The list is based on analysis by Phocuswright manager of research and
innovation Mike Coletta, who has looked at funding from January 2022 through the end
of Q1 this year to identify the top travel tech investors.

“The vast
majority of investors make infrequent investments in travel startups,” he said.

“For this list,
we tried to highlight the ones that are most active or are contributing the
most funding to the ecosystem. Since the specific amount of contributions by each investor in each funding round is generally not publicly available, we zeroed in on those who have made at
least four equity investments since the start of 2022 through the end of Q1
2023 or at least three investments where the funding rounds they contributed
to were in the tens of millions.”

Based on those
criteria, following is the list of top travel tech investors and the companies they
have invested in between January 2022 and March 31 this year, with links to our coverage of the startups’ funding as applicable. 

• D1 Capital Partners – Bolt, Fenbeitong, Wayve
• Sequoia Capital – Bolt, Boundless Life, Safara, Atlys
• Goldman Sachs – Fever Labs (two rounds), Hopper, Mews
• Tencent – Optibus, Ruqi Mobility, Lilium
• Goodwater Capital – Captain Experiences, Fever Labs (two rounds), Well-Traveled,
  ApniBus, Trainman, Zumper, Treepz
• Y Combinator – Canary Technologies (two rounds), Glimpse, Odys Aviation, Exosonic,
  TeamOut, Yassir
• Thayer Ventures – Canary Technologies (two rounds), Mews, Deal Engine, Operto
• Kinnevik – TravelPerk, SafetyWing, Gordian Software, Mews
• Northzone – Heygo, Distribusion, Pollen, Holidu
• Moving Capital – Kolors, Kyte, Yassir
• Andreessen Horowitz – Bounce, Journera, Kindred, Navan
• FJ Labs – Headout, Kukun, Kyte, ResortPass
• Corazon Capital – Bach (two rounds), Tripscout,AllFly
• JetBlue Ventures – NLX (two rounds), Frontdesk, Volantio
• Bpifrance – Mobee Travel, Evaneos, Quotelo, Tictactrip
• Plug and Play Tech Center – Sastaticket, Deal Engine (two rounds), Cruisebound
• Amadeus Ventures – Chooose, Volantio, Busbud, Eccocar

Investor insights

We also reached out to the companies on this list to gather insights
about their investment strategies, where they see opportunities for innovation
and their advice for founders. Here are some of those responses, in some cases
edited for brevity.

What
are your main criteria when determining what companies to invest in and why?

Kinnevik/Akhil Chainwala, investment director: We consider: addressable and
serviceable market size – to determine the potential for outsized success; product
and customer experience – is this a 10x improvement that will encourage users
to adopt the offering and enable the company to grow into the addressable
market?; and unit economics and acquisition channels – does the company have a
solid economic foundation underlying the product, and can these improve with
time?
Amadeus Ventures/Suzanna Chiu, head of Amadeus Ventures: People are the most important
asset of a startup. Only a great team can identify great ideas and execute
them. Other criteria we consider include the business plan, scalability,
sizable addressable market, growth projections and financial potential. We also consider the global footprint as
Amadeus is in more than 190 markets. At an early stage, we are also interested
in seeing a working product with initial supportive KPIs and one or two
successful customer case studies. Finally, for Amadeus, it’s important that we
find strategic alignment as we want to be sure our team can add value to a
project.
Moving Capital/Amr Alshihabi, general partner: Market – We need to believe
that this can become a large billion dollar business. We like tailwinds (Will
people be doing more of “this thing” in the future?) and products that are able
to unlock existing markets through innovation, e.g. Uber/Airbnb. People/Founders
– Can the team build a product and sell their vision to customers, investors
and employees? Startups are hard, so we like founders that are passionate and
have demonstrated the ability to persevere through adversity. Product – Speed of execution is a key signal. We also look
for a product that is loved by their customers, which can be reflected in
metrics like retention, churn, NPS and growth rates.
Thayer Ventures/Chris Hemmeter, managing director: We mainly look for companies
that are playing in large and expanding markets, that are solving difficult
problems, that are providing evidence of strong unit economics and that are run
by amazing people. Beyond all of that, however, we look for opportunities where
we can add value through our contacts and connections. That is key for us.
JetBlue Ventures/Amy Burr, president: JetBlue’s
original mission of bringing humanity back to travel has heavily influenced our
strategy, and we strive to do this on an unprecedented scale. We seek to
partner with early-stage companies that are revolutionizing travel and
hospitality, as well as technologies that can disrupt the entire industry. Our
five investment themes include seamless customer journeys, reimagining the
accommodation experience, next generation aviation operations and enterprise
tech, innovation in loyalty, distribution and revenue, and sustainable travel.

What do you wish startup
founders knew when they go out to the market for investment?

FJ Labs/Camila
Bustamante, investor: How you tell
the story to potential investors is more important than it seems. You can be
very strong on the numbers, but if you don’t get investors excited about the business,
it will be much harder to raise from them. No matter how early you are, it’s important to
have clear assumptions and a thoughtful go-to-market strategy so potential
investors understand what the next months will look like, where you will be focusing
your efforts, how you will be building liquidity if it’s a marketplace and how
you will be acquiring your customers in the most cost-efficient way.
Plug and Play/Amir Amidi, managing partner and Kristi Choi, early stage investor: Fundraising for founders is a full-time job
if done correctly and may take longer than expected. Making sure that you have
enough runway and having the ability and agility to make adjustments to your
burn rate, especially if fundraising takes longer than expected, is crucial. There
are also distinctly good and bad times to raise capital as the nature of
venture capital and tech is quite cyclical. However, when you are ready to
start fundraising, be over-prepared, making a targeted list of investors/VCs
and having a thoughtful sales funnel approach. Fundraising is essentially
selling – selling your business and vision to investors with the data to back
it up. As investors, we are evaluating your ability to sell, not only your
product, but also your company’s story and to see if you can raise subsequent
rounds of funding. Lastly, understanding what venture capital investors are
truly looking for in terms of an investment return. Venture capital is a high-risk, high-reward game, and there needs to be a sizable return opportunity for
us at the end of it all – tying everything back up to the market opportunity/size.
Y Combinator: Don’t worry about your valuation. Instead
focus on your gross profit and margin, because you make what you measure.
Northzone/Kilian Pender, partner: A significant learning, as an
investor-turned-founder-turned-investor, is to have a solid understanding of
the pain points that your business is addressing. The fundamental problems that
businesses try to solve don’t necessarily change over time, but the solutions
to them do – so founders need to understand exactly what problem their business
is tackling and be able to articulate and demonstrate why this solution is so
much better than what we’ve seen before. We’re always impressed by founders who
have thought deeply about their business and in multiple different ways,
understanding how they win today and where they need to progress in order to
stay competitive. 
Moving Capital/Alshihabi: When picking a lead investor, think of the decision like making an executive hire. What additional skills will help your team be successful and is that hire a cultural fit? Run a process. Have a clear idea of who your ideal investor is and approach them thoughtfully.
Thayer Ventures/Hemmeter: Raising money is exceedingly hard
and a tremendous distraction. Founders
need to be very strategic with respect to timing and targeting. All companies
pass through a number of phases as they develop, and that trajectory is not a
straight line. There are times when companies are ugly ducklings and there are
times when companies are loaded with sizzle and promise. One should try hard not to raise during the
ugly duckling phase! Targeting is also important. Investors typically focus on particular
stages that are characterized by specific metrics. Founders should spend their
time targeting the right investors for their particular stage and simply avoid
wasting time with the right people at the wrong time.
Kinnevik/Chainwala: Effective distribution is just as
important as product innovation (if not more). Limited repeat frequency amongst
end-users is inherent in travel and every startup needs a clear-eyed strategy
to deliver high marketing ROI despite this – and avoid burning capital and
churning users.

What is the
biggest mistake you see founders making in the early stages of building their
companies? 

Y Combinator: The secret to startup success isn’t
fundraising or growth hacking. It’s solving your customer’s biggest problems.
JetBlue Ventures/Burr: In the early stages of building a company, it is important to be
flexible and open to pivoting. As your understanding of your audience and
product grows, you may find that the existing plan no longer works and so it
may be necessary to change direction. The ability to reshape your vision and
respond to changes can be the difference between success and failure for a
business.
Thayer Ventures/Hemmeter: These days it’s not enough
attention placed on core, go-to-market fundamentals and unit economic proof. The
time of free money is over, and founders need to pivot fast and focus on
economic efficiency rather than growth at all cost. It’s never too early to
develop a detailed point of view on your go-to-market strategy and a framework
for how you will measure success. I see this priority coming to the table too
late and wish founders would incorporate quality thinking at the startup stage. Hard to do, but compelling when done well.
FJ Labs/Bustamante: Not nailing your unit economics early on and only
focusing on growth (this isn’t sustainable, and it is much more challenging to
change your underlying cost structure later on). Blindly following what you see
and hear about other companies in your space. Founders should try to build lean
teams and be as scrappy as possible in the early stages of the business so once
they raise larger rounds of capital, their vision is laser focused on what is
necessary for the company’s future vs. what is nice to have.
Kinnevik/Chainwala: We have been through an unusual three
years where founders have had to deal with pandemic-era shutdowns, a fierce
recovery in volumes and increasing inflation. While these topics are naturally
top-of-mind for those steering companies, it’s important to note that
growth-stage investors are typically more focused on long-term prospects,
secular tailwinds and fundamentals disconnected from short-term “noise.”
Plug and Play/Amidi and Choi: Cash flow is the lifeline of a business, and
poor financial management can lead to budgetary issues. Many founders make the
mistake of not managing their cash flow properly and underestimate the amount
of cash they need to keep their business afloat. This, in turn, can sometimes
lead to founders taking in a continuous stream of funds, further diluting their
stake in the business. Doing so may also cause issues and bring points of
concern down the line when trying to raise Series A+ rounds from institutional
VCs.
Amadeus Ventures/Chiu: It can be tempting for startups to surf on the latest trendy tech or buzzword as it could help them to attract attention and get funding from VCs. At Amadeus, we are focusing on the value creation opportunity. We always encourage entrepreneurs to focus on solving an actual pain point through a solution that the end user will be willing to adopt and pay for.

PhocusWire has also compiled insights from startup founders about how they determine which investors to work with and what they have learned through their fundraising efforts. Look for that story next week.