The Venture Codex

Participated · Equity · Jan 2024

Travelport provides a marketplace, Travelport+, that connects buyers and sellers of travel and simplifies how brands connect, upgrades how travel is sold, and enables modern digital retailing. The company operates in more than 165 countries and is led by CEO Greg Webb. Travelport’s platform supports a wide range of carrier NDC offerings and includes a Content Curation Layer — an AI/ML-powered search engine that normalizes and personalizes sources of travel content. The company intends to use recent financing to continue investing in its technology platforms and customer offerings. Its stated product roadmap includes accelerating new developments in Travelport+, expanding NDC support, and further developing the Content Curation Layer. Travelport is a Langley, UK-based technology company that powers bookings for hundreds of thousands of travel suppliers worldwide. Its next-generation marketplace, Travelport+, connects buyers and sellers and aims to simplify how brands connect, upgrade how travel is sold, and enable modern digital retailing. The company operates in more than 165 countries around the world. Led by CEO Greg Webb, Travelport reported a strong first-quarter performance and best-in-class tech achievements. It recently acquired Deem, a corporate travel management platform, and intends to use new capital to continue executing its growth strategy.

Participated · Series E · Oct 2021

CarDekho is an Indian search and e-commerce platform for new and used cars, headquartered in Jaipur. It buys cars from customers and then sells them and offers a catalogue of more than 3,000 certified pre-owned cars for online purchase. The platform also provides financing (installment payments) and insurance; its financial services business is profitable and insurance has reached breakeven. CarDekho works with almost all automobile makers in India and contributes 30% of their annual sales, and it partners with over 3,500 new auto dealers and more than 4,000 used car dealers and traders. The company has expanded to over 100 markets and said it exceeded a $100 million revenue run-rate in the last month. It plans to deploy the fresh capital to expand its used car and financial services businesses and expand its catalog to over 10,000 cars in the near future. CarDekho, founded in 2008 by Amit Jain, is an autotech group headquartered in Jaipur that has digitized large parts of the Indian automotive ecosystem. The group operates a portfolio of sites including CarDekho.com, Gaadi.com, ZigWheels.com, BikeDekho.com, PowerDrift.com and specialized portals TyreDekho.com and TrucksDekho.com. It recently launched an online insurance portal, InsuranceDekho.com, offering motor and health insurance, and introduced CarDekho Gaadi stores as a one-stop destination for selling pre-owned cars. The company’s offerings therefore span vehicle listings, insurance distribution and specialist verticals for tyres and commercial vehicles. CarDekho runs operations in India, Indonesia and the Philippines. The article does not disclose revenue or user metrics. CarDekho operates online portals and apps that list new and second-hand cars and motorbikes and produces automotive content such as a YouTube channel and blog. The company claims 39 million monthly unique visitors and six million app downloads, and it works with about 5,000 dealerships and direct retail partnerships with eight vehicle makers. On the services side it offers car financing via more than 10 financial partners and has offered insurance since 2017. Revenue grew from 114 crore (≈$16.3M) in FY 2016–17 to 160 crore (≈$22.8M) in FY 2017–18. CarDekho has expanded into Southeast Asia with portals in Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. The company says it will double down on insurance and financial-services offerings and build out more transaction services tied to auto sales. Girnar Software runs several Indian auto portals—CarDekho.com, Gaadi.com, Zigwheels.com—and a motorbike marketplace, BikeDekho.com. It acquired Gaadi.com in 2014 and Zigwheels.com in 2015 and expanded internationally last March with CarBay.com, which operates in 25 countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North America, and South America. In India its sites target car sellers and buyers and offer value-added services such as insurance, car accessories, tires, and roadside assistance. The company differentiates via product features including 360-degree interior/exterior views, audio recordings of horns, engines and ignition, and virtual reality showrooms to give consumers an immersive pre-dealer experience. Girnar says it will invest some of its new funding into research and development and plans to continue overseas growth through acquisitions. Before this round the company had raised at least $80 million, and it has received new, undisclosed funding from Google Capital with participation from returning investor Hillhouse Capital. Girnar Software operates CarDekho.com, a Jaipur-based auto portal that provides information on new and used cars, reviews, buy/sell listings and related services to connect consumers with dealers. The site follows a multiple-revenue model—dealer fees for leads and inventory listings, premium consumer listings, and advertising—and passes leads to manufacturers, charging them only when a car is purchased. It also connects users to auto loans and runs related sites BikeDekho.com and PriceDekho.com; the firm acquired competing site Gaadi.com from Naspers. The company reports about 17 million visits and 10 million unique visitors per month and works with over 5,000 dealer partners. Girnar aims to expand auto-financing via partnerships, targeting to facilitate a billion dollars of auto loans and expecting digital to hold a 25% share of auto loan financing within four years. Recently it has raised a $50 million Series B and received additional undisclosed investments, positioning it to deepen its financing partnerships and consumer loan pre-approval offerings.

Participated · Series G · Jun 2021

Flix is a global travel tech company operating asset-light intercity coach and rail services under the FlixBus and FlixTrain brands across 43 countries. The company has recently entered Chile and India and is expanding services in the UK, Portugal, Ukraine, Norway and Finland. Flix has operated in the United States since 2018 and acquired Greyhound Lines in 2021, integrating operations into its platform. In 2023 the company reported 30% total revenue growth, reaching EUR 2 billion in annual total revenue with adjusted EBITDA of EUR 104 million. Flix plans to further scale FlixTrain, transform the North American bus market, and pursue international market leadership while maintaining an asset-light model. The company published its second voluntary ESG report for 2023 and emphasizes sustainable, low-carbon and affordable travel as core to its strategy. FlixMobility operates the FlixBus coach network and FlixTrain rail service on an asset-light model in which it does not own the vehicles that run under its services. The company reported 62 million passengers in 2019 and, pre-pandemic, served some 29 countries with roughly 300 independent bus and train partners, about 350,000 daily connections to more than 2,000 destinations. Like many mobility companies, FlixMobility’s business was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing service reductions and temporary halts, though it implemented safety measures and expanded some routes in countries such as Portugal and the U.K. Management says bookings in the U.S. are already above pre-COVID levels and European markets are picking up. The company plans to use new funding to expand its network in the U.S. and across Europe and to add more buses to its U.S. fleet. FlixMobility is led by co-founders Jochen Engert and André Schwämmlein. Flixmobility operates FlixBus, a technology-driven long-distance bus platform providing green, budget travel across Europe and beyond. The company manages technology, ticketing, customer service, network planning, marketing and sales while local SME partners run daily bus operations. Founded in 2013 by Jochen Engert, Daniel Krauss and André Schwämmlein, over 100 million people have travelled with FlixBus across 29 countries. It offers amenities such as free WiFi, onboard entertainment, power outlets and luggage allowance, and says trips save 80% CO2 emissions versus car travel. The company recently raised around €500 million in a Series F that values it above $2 billion and plans to use proceeds to expand into Latin America and Asia and to launch a car-pooling service, FlixCar. Flixmobility has also expanded to New Orleans in the U.S. and plans to roll out Flixtrains when European rail markets liberalize. FlixBus operates an e-commerce and technology platform that enables intercity bus travel by partnering with independent bus operators. The company focuses on network and capacity planning, quality management, and sales and marketing while its partners run the vehicles. Since founding it has served more than 60 million passengers through roughly 100,000 daily connections to about 1,000 destinations in 20 countries. FlixBus works with more than 250 independent bus partners and offers comprehensive networks in Germany, France, Italy, Austria and the Netherlands, plus cross-border services to Scandinavia, Spain and the UK. The company raised a growth funding round (amount undisclosed) and intends to use the proceeds to further drive expansion plans. No revenue or profitability figures were disclosed in the article.