Corporations could be a lot more efficient with the travel spend, believes booking platform TripActions. And they’re announcing $14.6 million in funding from Zeev Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners to fulfill that mission.
Premised on the idea that people spend more money when it’s the company’s dime, the startup offers employees rewards for staying under a target budget. The “TripBucks” can be used for Amazon gift cards or other merchandise.
With clients that include SurveyMonkey and eHarmony, the newly launched TripActions, offers a Kayak-like platform for booking flights and hotels. They hope the simplicity of their platform will help them take on incumbents like Concur.
TripActions is not the first company to offer a reward-based approach to corporate travel spending. Venture-backed startups Rocketrip and TravelBank are competing in the space as well.
What’s different about TripActions, is the “focus on mobile” and that they have a “ton of inventory,” says Ariel Cohen, CEO and co-founder. They’re also “adding a lot of algorithms on personalization.”
Arif Janmohamed, partner at Lightspeed, said he liked the idea because “most people aren’t really happy with the experience” on traditional corporate booking platforms. He felt that TripActions had more “instant gratification and instant transparency” than the competition, because it is readily apparent what the savings will be.
The platform is free to use, TripActions just charges companies a booking fee. Some of the others charge clients to use the platform with recurring payments.
“What attracted me was the opportunity to disrupt an industry full of outdated options and provide travelers choice and a modern experience while adding value to their company,” said Oren Zeev of Zeev Ventures about why he invested. “It brings choice to travelers and gives them a reason to save money.”
Menlo Park-based TripActions launched in 2015, but was previously in “stealth mode.”
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