– Kiwi.com bookings have doubled versus pre-pandemic levels on the back of a strong recovery in global air travel
– Convertible bond placed with a prestigious global institutional investor
Kiwi.com, the travel technology company, today announces an investment of €100 million, one of the largest of its size in a Czech start-up. The capital comes from a preeminent global institutional investor and will be used to support continued growth as Kiwi.com bolsters its position in the global travel industry. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Since its founding in 2012, Kiwi.com rapidly disrupted the highly fragmented global flight ticket industry by challenging the existing airline and OTA approach with its customer-focused technology platform. Kiwi.com’s mission is to support customers throughout their journey and identify the best and, in many cases, unique ways to reach their destination at the lowest price.
Kiwi.com co-founder and CEO Oliver Dlouhý, said: “Kiwi.com was founded in 2012 on the single idea to support customers looking for options to reach their destination for a better price in ways not displayed or available to purchase at the time. Little did I know then that our innovative technology would bring about disruption to an industry not seen since low cost carriers entered the market over 50 years ago. The investment will enable us to continue to build on that innovation and drive future growth to support more customers.”
As the Kiwi.com team capitalizes on a huge recovery in demand for flights and travel around the world, the company is focused on:
Customer experience: Bringing a superior and unified experience to customers by providing a single point of contact and support throughout their journey, irrespective of who they choose to fly with
Unique content and lowest fares: Enhancing the company’s industry leading technology to enable customers to book the itineraries they want and offer hidden itineraries not available anywhere else, including combining carriers in order to save customers time and money
Product innovation: Continuing to bring innovation into Kiwi.com’s products that support and add value to customers beyond flight tickets and to identify and offer products and services today’s customers want
Kiwi.com CFO Iain Wetherall, commented: “We are immensely proud of this endorsement of our vision, our proven platform and the massive opportunity ahead of us. We never stopped investing into product innovation and customer experience, even during the pandemic, and this capital enables us to further accelerate our growth plans. Kiwi.com and our majority shareholder, General Atlantic, are gratified to be partnering with this prestigious global institutional investor, reflecting the confidence in a strong recovery in air travel and our market leadership.”
Jefferies International Limited and Barclays Bank Ireland PLC acted as placement agents in connection with the offering.
About Kiwi.com
Kiwi.com is a leading travel tech company headquartered in the Czech Republic, employing over 1,000 people worldwide. Kiwi.com’s innovative Virtual Interlining algorithm allows users to combine flights across legacy and low-cost airlines into one single itinerary. Kiwi.com performs 2 billion price checks per day across 95% of global flight content enabling customers to find better route options and prices other search engines can’t see. Fifty million searches are carried out every day on Kiwi.com’s website and over 70,000 seats are sold daily.
