Friday, November 22, 2024

Travelsoft Acquires Three Travel Tech Companies 

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Skift Take

The CEO of Travelsoft said earlier this month that more acquisitions were coming.

— Justin Dawes

Travelsoft said Thursday that it has acquired three tech companies. France-based Travelsoft is primarily focused on providing tech to travel agents and tour operators that streamlines the process of selling and marketing travel packages. 

The three companies Travelsoft acquired offer business-to-business services in that space:

  • Spain-based TravelgateX offers a tech platform that connects lodging suppliers with sellers. 
  • UK-based Atcore Technology offers a reservation and inventory platform for tour operators as well as tech to package, price and distribute travel packages.
  • Romania-based Travel Connection Technology offers a tech platform to integrate contracting, inventory management, sales channels, booking management, and financial accounts.

Each of the companies will maintain autonomy, Travelsoft said. That includes keeping brand names, leadership teams, and their tech platforms.

The acquisition prices were not disclosed, but here are a few other details:

  • The deal nearly triples Travelsoft’s employee base to 600.
  • Travelsoft says its platforms now facilitate bookings worth a total of €35 billion ($37.9 billion). Before the deal, that number was €5 billion ($5.4 billion).
  • The company said it now has recurring revenues totaling €100 million ($108.3 million) annually, up from €43 million ($46.6 million).
  • Travelsoft now has 400 major clients, up from 300, as well as 1,000 travel suppliers, up from 600

An Acquisition Spree

This is the sixth acquisition for Travelsoft since 2022 – there are now seven companies under the group’s umbrella.

Travelsoft earlier this year acquired Eventiz Group, which owns three publications and hosts events geared toward the French tourism and business travel industry. The company had been struggling financially and was following a court-supervised restructuring process and a plan to pay back its creditors.

Travelsoft’s first portfolio company was Orchestra, and then it acquired Germany-based Traffics in 2022 and Spain-based Travel Compositor in 2023

Private investment firm Capza invested in Travelsoft in 2023 and became a minor shareholder. That investment has enabled Travelsoft’s acquisition spree, the company said.

Industry experts are saying that the industry is ripe for consolidation, and that’s been showed with multiple deal announcements over the past few weeks alone. Hotel tech startup Mews, for example, made its ninth acquistion this month.

Investment bank AGC Partners is among those that believe merger and acquisition activity is on the rise. The company published an analysis on the topic last month that said the pieces are in place for more deals.

Those pieces include an improving funding environment and the fact that tech private equity firms have about $300 billion to deploy, AGC said. “The real action is yet to come,” AGC stated.

Among their strategies, those firms are investing in companies like Mews and Travelsoft to finance their growth via acquisition.

Photo Credit: Travelsoft has acquired three companies.

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