In a move that significantly expands its presence in the U.S. market, Barcelona-based TravelPerk has acquired corporate travel booking and management provider NexTravel, bringing what it says is more than 700 new U.S. client organizations under TravelPerk's umbrella, along with NexTravel's technology platform and workforce.
Founded in 2013 and launched in 2015 from Y Combinator, Santa Monica, Calif.-based NexTravel says it has processed more than 300,000 trips over its booking platform to date.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
For TravelPerk, the acquisition is intended to serve as an anchor point for further growth in the U.S., according to company CEO Avi Meir.
"The U.S. market is already important for us—unsurprisingly, as the largest economy in the world—but this acquisition will help us significantly grow our presence there," said Meir. "We’ve [now] doubled the size of our team on the ground and grown our client base and expertise. In fact, after this acquisition, the U.S. will become our biggest market."
In another addition to its U.S. capabilities, TravelPerk also has reached a new deal with Southwest Airlines to make the carrier's full inventory available within its booking tool.
Corporate travel in the U.S and most other markets remains at a near-standstill amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, but Meir said TravelPerk views the halt in travel activity as an opportunity to bolster its platform and grow the company into a "force to be reckoned with" in the U.S. once travel gets up and running again.
"We've been able to invest significantly in our products and technology and move quickly to strengthen our offering, giving us a great platform for continued growth in our priority markets, particularly the U.S.," according to Meir.
Indeed, TravelPerk has rolled out several new features in 2020, including a Covid-19 data tracking tool built using technology acquired via its purchase of risk management startup Albatross in July 2020. Other new offerings launched last year include a value-added tax reclamation service and a carbon mitigation program. The company also opened its tech platform to enable clients and third-party supplier to build custom integrations and applications using TravelPerk's application programming interfaces.
As to travel's return, Meir said he projects that, provided recently released vaccine programs are successful, "we could start to see travel regaining its pre-pandemic levels" in the second half of 2021—boosted by a surge in pent-up demand as travelers make up for lost time by reconnecting with clients and colleagues face-to-face.
For now, Meir said TravelPerk will spend the next year moving the entirety of NexTravel's client base over to the TravelPerk platform—and additional purchases could be on the way, he added.
"It is part of TravelPerk's strategy to keep getting stronger by acquiring other companies and integrating their expertise and talented teams to build long-term growth," said Meir.