Accel leads $3 Mn round in corporate travel startup Travelstop

In a pre-Series-A funding round, corporate travel startup Travelstop has scored $3 million from Accel Partners along with existing investors SeedPlus and Strive. 

Following the round, Accel will also help Travelstop in scaling up its operations with partner Prashanth Prakash joining the Board of Directors at the Singapore-based startup founded by Indian entrepreneurs. Increasing the number of tourism in its portfolio, the VC had also invested in budget hotel chain FabHotels last month.

Additionally, it has also announced a partnership with online travel agency Traveloka helping it with an extensive inventory of flights and hotel stays across southeast Asia and  Australia. Both companies will look forward to tapping into the $250 billion corporate travel industry that is underserved and lacks travel management options.

Travelstop was launched in September as an AI-based travel expense management tool to help companies plan their travel plans efficiently and keep a close track of the costs involved.

It differentiates from traditional corporate travel space by providing features such as expense tracking, travel bookings, and support services for a single fee. The startup also offers a host of new services such as 24/7 support, a tool that monitors flight delays/cancellations and the option of buying travel insurance along with flights and hotel bookings. 

 The company was founded by ex-Yahoo executives Prashant Kirtane(CEO), Vijay Aggarwal (CTO) and Altaf Dhamani(CPO) who have worked in the tourism industry for many years. The trio was part of another startup Travelmob, which was acquired by HomeAway for $20 million in 2013 that was later absorbed by Expedia.

Previously, the SaaS platform had raised $1.2 million in a seed funding round back in august 2018 to launch in SEA markets such as  South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan. It will be looking to use the fresh injection of funds to acquire larger corporate clients and increase its inventory in growing markets.

The development was reported by TechinAsia