TourRadar Grabs $500k Angel Money, Now Offers Direct Booking

VIENNA - May 30, 2014 - PRLog -- The recent funding is the second round TourRadar (www.tourradar.com) closes, after a strategic Angel Round almost a year ago, where industry veterans Erik Blachford (former Expedia CEO) and Jörg Trouvain (former HolidayCheck CEO & current 7Travel CEO) alongside Superangel Fund SpeedInvest invested. In the current round, that closed in at $500,000 at a $4.5m valuation, SpeedInvest and some existing investors increased their stakes, also welcoming AC & Friends, the fund of two business angels, to the round.

The tour travel space is said to be the last untapped area of online travel, worked on by the likes of Viator, Expedia and Chinese Tuniu who recently filed for an IPO on Nasdaq. That doesn’t come as a surprise if you add up the numbers: a huge supply, often untransparent and confusing for the customer, and a sizeable market, make for a great investment, not to mention the industry giants like TripAdvisor or Priceline that have been acquiring startups frequently to broaden their portfolio.

Where many platforms focus on local in-destination experiences, TourRadar provides more breadth by offering multi-day tours and include the social angle right from the beginning. So embarking on the “Experience the Land of Smiles” Thailand tour for 40 days can not only be booked in a few clicks, but also your travel buddies could be found through TourRadar’s “Meet App”, a smartphone app (www.tourradar.com/app) available for Android and iPhone, that hooks up travellers before even going.

Interestingly this funding happened “on air” in the Austrian version of “Dragon’s Den”, where Travis Pittman, co-founder of Australia descent, pitched the startup and got investors committed on the spot. “2 Minuten, 2 Millionen” (2 Minutes, 2 Million) as the show was called, proved to be 2 very well invested minutes in the founder’s journey. “I am happy that we are able to fuel our growth with this investment, growing our brand and converting more tour operators to the agency booking model we now offer” says Pittman.

TourRadar has seen substantial growth in its agency business, having achieved a $1.5m run rate within 6 months of launching its booking engine, now exceeding $150,000 gross revenue per month.  Pittman is confident that this additional funding will only help continue TourRadar’s trajectory to becoming the go-to place for group travel.

About SpeedInvest

SpeedInvest is an Austrian business angel fund that invests in web/mobile and Fintech startups based in Central Europe. Besides financial investments, SpeedInvest actively deploys its network and know-how to support its portfolio companies. SpeedInvest’s office in Silicon Valley supports portfolio companies entering the US market.www.speedinvest.com

About TourRadar

TourRadaris an online travel agency specializing in group travel. Travis and Shawn Pittman founded TourRadar in 2010 with the vision of helping travellers find & book their dream trip and to make lifelong friendships along the way. Since then, TourRadar has evolved into an industry-leading online platform that provides a seamless and effective booking process, genuine consumer tour reviews and engages travellers to meet each other before the trip departs.  Find out more at tourradar.com/who-we-are.