Travelstop lands US$1.2m in seed funding; will use funds to drive growth

Singapore-based startup Travelstop has raised US$1.2 million from investors, led by SeedPlus, a venture capital firm in Singapore, along with a travel-focused venture capital firm based in the US.

A new AI-powered software-as-a-service platform for Asia’s business travellers

Other investors during this round include Dan Lynn and Vikram Malhi, founders of Zuzu Hospitality Solutions; David Ko, president and COO of Rally Health; and Jarrod Howe, regional operations director at Hyper Island Singapore.

Travelstop is an AI-powered software-as-a-service platform aimed at simplifying business travel for companies in Asia. It uses advanced machine learning and AI-powered personalisation to make flight and hotel recommendations, reducing the hours needed by business travellers to research and book their travel. Employees also have access to an intuitive expense reporting tool that simplifies the expense reimbursement process.

A press statement from Travelstop indicated recognition that the Asia-Pacific region is the largest business travel market in the world, comprising 40 per cent of global business travel.

As such, the funding will be used to drive product development, build a development team in Singapore, and ramp up growth through sales and marketing, the startup said. This year, it will be focusing on priority markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Prashant Kirtane, Travelstop’s CEO, said: “Young millennials and business travellers in Asia are technology savvy, socially driven and are smart travellers that actively participate in the sharing economy. These travellers aspire for more meaningful travel experiences, and we at Travelstop are building a modern business travel platform for the next-gen traveller. Our goal is to not only provide a delightful and flexible travel booking experience, but also make the post-trip expense management process more efficient.”

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