Hotel technology specialist Triptease has raised an additional US$4 million from its original investors BGF and Notion Capital, taking the total funds invested since last year to US$13 million.
The London-based startup is a travel Software as a Service company that provides a data-driven software platform for hotels to increase direct bookings and compete with OTAs.
The fresh investment from BGF and Notion Capital will be used to build Triptease’s business in Asia, where the company opened a Singapore office last year. Triptease will also continue to innovate its product, in particular by stepping up the roll-out of its automated chatbot to more hoteliers.
At the same time the company is expanding its global leadership team, having made a number of changes in the last few months to help drive expansion in Asia.
Richard Collins, the company’s first chief revenue officer, joined in March from Click Software, while Alexandra Zubko, co-founder and general manager of the Americas, will become chief customer officer. A general manager for the Asia-Pacific region will be appointed shortly.
The new funding will also allow Triptease to invest more in the Direct Booking Summit. One part of the triannual series took place Amsterdam yesterday and saw attendance from Best Western, Google and Airbnb. Further summits will be held in Dallas in October and in Singapore in 2019.
Charlie Osmond, founder and Chief Tease at Triptease, commented: “A direct relationship with customers reduces a hotel’s spend on middleman commissions whilst allowing them to offer services like mobile check-in alongside ancillary upsells. Savvy consumers have also started to realise hotels prefer guests who book direct. Room upgrades and special incentives have become commonplace benefits for booking direct.”
Simon Calver, head of investments – ventures, at BGF, added: “As consolidation takes place across the travel sector, there is a huge opportunity for Triptease to sell its software to hoteliers who really care about building a high quality business… we are very happy to provide Triptease with more capital as its expansion continues apace.”
