Travel Tech Investment Is on Unstable Ground: Here's What Industry Pros Say

25.08.2023 - 14:35 / skift.com / Justin Dawes / Richard Valtr

Opinions vary widely about the state of investment in the travel tech startup world during this uncertain economic time, but one thing is for sure: it’s changing.

Below are some of the main takeaways from startup mentors, investors, and founders about what is happening and how they’re dealing with it. 

Startup valuations got out of control for a bit, some would say. Now, the proverbial punch bowl has been taken away, and people are sobering up as valuations are returning to normal. 

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s time for startup founders to accept the truth, said Cara Whitehill, an industry advisor and investor and the founder of Unlock Advisors.

“What that means is that you’ve got a class of founders who have never experienced anything other than that. They’ve never really had to worry about the fundraising and financing aspect of their business, and now they’re having to do that,” Whitehill said.  

The advice she is giving to early stage startups:

Typically, it can be tougher to raise money for travel tech startups than those in other sectors. While it probably will not return to as difficult as it was pre-pandemic, it may be a bit harder than it has been. 

There is still money out there, however, and investors are still looking to invest, said Gaurav Tuli, partner of Fidelity-affiliated F-Prime Capital.

“It has largely been the best funding environment I’ve seen for [business-to-business] travel tech in a very long time,” Tuli said. 

Most of it has been a result of fundamental issues that surfaced during the pandemic, he said.

“I think it’s a great time for [business-to-business] travel tech in general,” Tuli said. “It is finally getting the light shined on it as a category that it never really had before. It was kind of lurking in the dark alleys.”

Many companies were showing strong signs of success in 2021, and they haven’t really seen a slowdown in performance yet in 2022. Some of that is stemming from pent-up travel demand. Eventually that will go away, and Tuli does believe that will have an inevitable impact on the industry. But investment won’t go away, at least not for F-Prime. 

“For us, this is about what is fundamentally shifted, and how can we look forward five years from now or 10 years from now at what the industry looks like,” Tuli said. “I think we still stay in a really strong environment because people are looking at this market differently.” 

Venture capital aside, some companies will see this time as an opportunity to invest via mergers and acquisitions, said to Richard Valtr, CEO of Mews.

His company, which provides a property management system for hotels, has completed five deals and has a couple more in the works, he said. His company also has a venture capital