Skyscanner secures second investor

Friday, 03 Oct, 2013 0

Skyscanner has received an undisclosed investment from a second investor, Sequoia Capital.

The deal, according to Skyscanner, values the travel search company at $800 million.

Sequoia chairman Sir Michael Moritz will represent Sequoia on Skyscanner’s Board of Directors.

Scottish Equity Partners remains the company’s largest investor.

Skyscanner said the move will give it access to a "deep pool of experience at a time when the company is undergoing a period of rapid, self-funded growth".

Skyscanner has grown more than 100% year on year for the past four years, more than doubling its staff last year and with plans to double it again to 500 over the next year.

It has just opened a new office in Miami to help grow its business in the US, Canada and Latin America.

Skyscanner CEO Gareth Williams said: "Sequoia Capital’s investment in Skyscanner brings us a depth of experience drawn from a pantheon of tech brands.

"We intend to offer our users more of the great technology and functionality they’re already familiar with."

Michael Moritz, chairman of Sequoia Capital, said: "Much remains to be done to make mobile and online travel easier for consumers from Accra to Zagreb and Skyscanner is paving these paths.

"Skyscanner’s success in helping people find the world’s most accurate flight information is just the beginning of what’s possible.

"Skyscanner is one of the best technology companies ever to come out of Europe and is already a leading global player. Our job is to help take its current success a step further.

"Founders and CEOs like Skyscanner’s Gareth Williams are part of an extremely rare species with talents that most of us yearn for but don’t possess."

The deal comes after Skyscanner’s acquisition of Barcelona-based Fogg, a company with technology to speed up and simplify online hotel search.
 



 

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Bev

Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.



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