Booking app Omio raises US$100m in travel recovery bet

[BERLIN] Berlin travel-booking app Omio said on Wednesday it had raised US$100 million in backing to expand its business and make acquisitions as the industry recovers from the blow dealt by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Existing and new investors took part in the round, including Singaporean wealth fund Temasek, Sweden's Kinnevik, Goldman Sachs, NEA - a backer of US share trading app Robinhood - and Kleiner Perkins.

The round took the form of convertible notes that investors will be able to switch, at a discount, into shares in Omio when it holds its next equity fundraising.

Founder and chief executive officer Naren Shaam said it would be at least a couple of years before he starts thinking about another equity round. Omio had previously attracted US$296 million from investors.

At the height of the viral outbreak, Omio went into "keep-the-lights-on" mode and put 90 per cent of its staff on furlough, Mr Shaam told Reuters, but its team of 350 is now working again at full strength.

The company, which offers travel search and bookings for flights, trains, buses and other forms of transport, said it was seeing a shift away from air towards ground travel.

That shift supports margins, but purchases and distances travelled are smaller, said Mr Shaam. More people are also booking at the last minute, putting a premium on the flexibility offered by its smartphone app, he added.

Bookings though the platform are back above half pre-pandemic levels in Omio's core markets of Germany and France although it is still beaten down in the US, which it entered at the start of this year.

"Business is coming back much stronger than we expected," the Indian-born, Harvard-educated entrepreneur said in an interview.

Omio is reviewing "a lot of opportunities" for acquisitions, he added, having bought Australian route-discovery specialist Rome2Rio last October.

REUTERS