AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Complai, the Austin-based makers of Shep, today announced the company has closed a $1.4 million seed funding round led by Moonshots Capital with participation from the Capital Factory, an Austin-based accelerator and fund. The financing will be used to bring the company’s flagship product to market, support customer onboarding, and grow the team and product. Craig Cummings, Co-Founder and General Partner at Moonshots Capital will join CEO, Daniel Senyard, on Complai’s board of directors.
Founded in 2016, Complai’s employee-centric travel tool, Shep, embraces the rogue spirit of modern business travelers by letting them book business travel on consumer sites while tracking their spending through a browser extension. Automated tracking helps small-to-medium enterprises save valuable resources on their second largest controllable expense, business travel.
“More than 70% of U.S. companies’ travel is ‘unmanaged,’ meaning employees are booking business travel on consumer sites without the supervision of corporate travel agents. There is a huge need for better tools to guide booking behavior and capture spending on consumer-focused sites like Expedia, Southwest, and Airbnb,” said Daniel Senyard, CEO of Complai and one of Business Travel News’ “2017 Innovators You Should Know.” “Moonshots Capital team’s network and experience in taking companies from startup, through growth, and even possibly on to acquisition, is exactly what we need to take our company to the next step. Craig’s background in travel and transportation, and his experience with RideScout, are invaluable. We’re honored to have him on our board and behind our company.”
Using a simple Chrome Extension, Shep delivers detailed policy information and reimbursement guidance at a glance. After a search, Shep outlines results that are compliant in green, helping travelers see which options are within the travel policy on sites like Expedia, Airbnb, Orbitz, and SouthWest. The extension then triggers a communication workflow, alerting managers to policy violations through email and Slack while allowing travelers to justify overspending. This eliminates uncertainty on both sides; the traveler knows instantly what is expected of them and allowed, and the finance team is no longer in the dark about how much was spent.
“Daniel and Complai have built a compelling product that businesses and employees want, need, and love. Shep is an innovative new business travel booking platform that allows employees to book travel on the sites they prefer while complying with company guidelines. We are proud to lead their seed round and look forward to helping their company grow,” said Craig Cummings, Moonshots Capital.
Notable angel investors in this round include former CEO of Sabre, Kathy Misunas; former President of Travelocity Business, Ellen Keszler; Co-founder of fintech unicorn, SoFi, Jim Finnigan; ex-CMO of HomeAway and Visa Europe, Mariano Dima.
Shep is expected to launch in mid-2018. For information, please visit www.sheptravel.com to request early access.
About Complai
Complai’s first product, Shep solves SME travel by helping businesses easily set up a travel policy, guide traveler bookings and track real-time spending on consumer sites through a simple browser extension and advanced reporting capabilities. For more information visit www.sheptravel.com.
Book What You Want, The Way You Should
About Moonshots
Moonshots Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in extraordinary leadership.
Great leaders are hard to come by. We believe the best ones are military-trained or trial-by-fire entrepreneurs who have the ability to motivate others to action, inspire trust, and plan heuristically. We invest with conviction when those attributes are present.
Moonshots Capital, with offices in Austin and Los Angeles, was founded by a team of veterans in 2017. We have collectively founded and operated 14 companies, and have personally invested in 70 ventures. Beyond capital, we deploy our military and entrepreneurial experience and network to help world-changing companies grow.
Work with us. Go to http://www.moonshotscapital.com.
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