VIENNA & TORONTO & BRISBANE, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TourRadar, the largest OTA in the multi-day touring market, announced today a US$50m Series C, marking the largest tech funding in Austria in 2018. The round is led by TCV with existing investors Cherry Ventures, Endeit Capital, Hoxton Ventures and Speedinvest. TCV is one of the largest providers of capital to growth-stage private and public companies in the technology industry backing industry-leading companies including Airbnb, Expedia and Netflix.
In connection with the funding, Erik Blachford, a venture partner at TCV and previously President and CEO of IAC Travel, has joined TourRadar’s supervisory board.
TourRadar intends to use the funding to expand its team globally and will invest in the technology platform to provide a personalized user experience for customers in new and existing source markets.
TourRadar markets multi-day tour and river cruising experiences from over 600 operators globally serving well-known and hundreds of specialty operators that otherwise rely on local agents. TourRadar supports operator partners through instant bookability, tour review functionality and campaigns including World Touring Day.
Founded in 2010, TourRadar has grown rapidly by providing consumers with easy access to the fast-growing multi-day tour category, with a total addressable market value estimated at $55 billion. Travelers of all ages are increasingly seeking authentic, off-the-beaten-path experiences when they travel, and TourRadar offers more than 25,000 tours in 200 countries on its platform.
TourRadar was founded by brothers Travis and Shawn Pittman, both native Australians. Travis, an engineer, is TourRadar’s Vienna-based CEO. Shawn, the company’s CFO, came from a successful career in investing. Both are avid travelers with many countries on their travel résumés, and a vision of connecting people to life-enriching travel experiences through multi-day touring.
"The experience and knowledge in the online travel sector that Erik Blachford and TCV bring to the table is exactly what we were looking for as we embark on this exciting next chapter at TourRadar,” said Travis Pittman, CEO and co-founder at TourRadar. “This stage will well and truly bring our vision to life and we’re excited to do this with their guidance.”
“Multi-day tours are the last frontier in online travel,” said Erik Blachford, a venture partner at TCV and former CEO at Expedia. “TourRadar has staked a claim, and I am looking forward to helping Travis and the team realize their vision.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Travis and the TourRadar team,” said John Doran, general partner at TCV. “We have been continually impressed with their unrivalled passion for travel and their vision to inspire the global travel community with the most convenient way to access the broadest choice of authentic multi-day tours across the world. We are delighted that Erik Blachford will join the board and look forward to supporting the entire team as they continue to build their business.”
For further information head to www.tourradar.com/press or contact:
About TourRadar
Based in Vienna (Austria) with service centers in Brisbane and Toronto, TourRadar is the world's largest online travel agency for multi-day tours. For more information visit https://www.tourradar.com. In 2017, TourRadar was named one of the top three startups in Austria by Trend Magazine. TourRadar is looking for talent to join their team: https://www.tourradar.com/careers.
About TCV
Founded in 1995, TCV provides capital to growth-stage private and public companies in the technology industry. Since inception, TCV has invested over $10 billion in leading technology companies and has helped guide CEOs through more than 115 IPOs and strategic acquisitions. TCV's investments include Airbnb, Altiris, AxiomSL, Dollar Shave Club, EmbanetCompass, EtQ, ExactTarget, Expedia, Facebook, Fandango, GoDaddy, HomeAway, LinkedIn, Netflix, OSIsoft, Rent the Runway, Sitecore, Splunk, Spotify, Varsity Tutors, and Zillow. TCV is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, with offices in New York and London. For more information about TCV, including a complete list of TCV investments, visit https://www.tcv.com/.
