Spotnana Lands $75M To Help With Travel

New York-based travel tech startup Spotnana closed a $75 million Series B in another sign that the travel sector has bounced back after the COVID pandemic.

The round was led by Durable Capital Partners, with participation from existing investors Madrona Venture Group, Iconiq Growth, Mubadala Capital and Blank Ventures.

Spotnana describes itself as a “travel-as-a-service platform,” which includes providing tools such as consumer-grade online booking, a booking engine, system of record for booking travel, and data integrations for travel inventory. According to the company, its cloud-based offering allows for lower operating costs and improved travel experiences.

“It’s our mission to rebuild the infrastructure of the travel industry in order to bring freedom, simplicity, and trust to travelers everywhere,” said co-founder and CEO Sarosh Waghmar in a release. “The infrastructure that has been in place for decades puts huge barriers between suppliers and travelers.”

In the past year the company has doubled its workforce to 200+ people. The new funding will allow it to accelerate hiring and push its platform.

More money

Founded in 2020, the company has now raised more than $116 million, according to Crunchbase data. However, it is not the only startup in travel to see VC interest.

Startups in the travel sectors have bounced back after COVID seemed to burst their bubble two years ago. According to Crunchbase data, VC-backed startups in those sectors raised just less than $3.2 billion in 2020. However, as the travel industry started to rebound last year, startups saw more than $6.3 billion in venture capital flow.

Already this year, VC-backed startups in travel and business travel specifically have raised just less than $2.8 billion—not on par with last year but well ahead of 2020’s numbers.

Startups in the space could see continued interest as travel gets back to normal.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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