FOR IMMEDIATE INTERNATIONAL RELEASE
Kaptio Announces New Investors, Funding the Next Leg of their ResTech Journey
November 11, 2024 – Kaptio, a global leader in reservation technology for the multi-day travel industry, is entering a new phase of rapid international expansion, focused on enabling digital transformation for industry leaders. Backed by new funding from a strategic private equity investor, alongside key partnerships and an expanded executive team, Kaptio is set to revolutionize how multi-day travel is managed and delivered worldwide.
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Kópavogur, Iceland, Kaptio serves international enterprise travel sellers and operators, including those specializing in group travel, cruises, rail journeys, and the FIT market. Kaptio, built on the Salesforce platform, helps simplify the selling and operating of complex multi-day itineraries, allowing travel brands to focus on their expertise: providing exceptional traveler experiences.
Today, Kaptio has a talented team of 100 professionals, with operations extending globally across the UK, Europe, Canada, and Australia. Company revenues have more than doubled since 2022, driven by a surge of new customers and the continued growth of existing ones. Its new integrated payment solution (featuring multiple payment capabilities such as Pay Later, PayPal and Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay and more) transacted over USD $150 million since it launched at the end of 2023, representing around 10% of the total GMV the entire Kaptio platform processed the year prior, at USD $1.3 billion. The company aims to double that amount by the end of 2025.
Kaptio welcomes new investors to support its growing momentum
VEX, a growth equity fund based in Iceland, has acquired a 70% stake in Kaptio, alongside prominent investors Birgir Ragnarsson, Björn Karlsson, and Jóhann Ólafur Jónsson, founders of Annata, and others. As part of the transaction, Kaptio will issue new shares worth $2.5M USD. Key shareholders Frumtak Ventures, New Business Venture Fund (a startup fund owned by the Icelandic government), and Kaptio’s co-founder Arnar Laufdal Ólafsson are among the primary sellers.
As the company’s first new round of funding post-pandemic, the support will accelerate the execution of Kaptio’s strategy and will support its product development, broaden its global sales and marketing in key markets, strengthen its global cloud operations, and seed new innovation programs with our customers.
"Kaptio has developed an outstanding technology platform for the multi-day travel industry, and we’ve laid the foundation for continued innovation to meet the growing demands of the market," says Viðar Svansson, CEO of Kaptio. "We are grateful for the support of our departing shareholders, and we look forward to collaborating with our new partners, who bring a wealth of experience in building and supporting companies like ours. Their involvement is a testament to the hard work and vision of our employees over the past few years."
The company’s new partners share in this optimism. "The team at Kaptio has succeeded in creating a market-leading product in an exciting and dynamic sector. We are entering at what we believe is just the beginning of their growth journey," says Benedikt Ólafsson, a partner at VEX. "As anchor investors, we are fully committed to supporting the management's vision."
Partnerships with established technology and travel companies solidify Kaptio’s trajectory
PayPal partnership
Recently Kaptio and Braintree, a PayPal company, announced a strategic partnership with the goal of transforming the digital landscape of the travel industry by integrating Kaptio's Salesforce-powered platform and Digital Commerce Platform, designed explicitly for multi-day itineraries and packages. The move solidifies Kaptio's innovative standing in the travel technology realm, with the partnership leveraging Braintree's reliable payment system, providing travel operators with a secure and streamlined solution while establishing PayPal as Kaptio's preferred payment partner.
New customer wins
As Kaptio’s strategic vision comes to life, major players in the industry have taken note and solidified long-term partnerships with the software company. In addition to existing partners such as Audley Travel, Rocky Mountaineer and Railbookers, Kaptio and Australian-based global tour operator Intrepid Travel have teamed up to digitally transform the company’s travel management and reservation systems, in a deal that may be one of the industry’s largest in terms of global scope and is part of larger market expansion in the APAC region.
The partnership with Kaptio is a strategic decision to future-proof their business with robust, scalable technology designed to enhance operational efficiency, handling high-volume bookings and intricate, personalized itineraries.The collaboration is a response to the urgent need for technological advancement in the sector, transitioning from outdated systems to modern, efficient solutions.
“By eliminating manual processes for our teams and streamlining routine tasks, we aim to enhance the overall booking and travel experience for our customers and are excited about the potential growth in both existing and new segments,” said Anu Karunatilaka, Chief Technology Officer at Intrepid Travel.
Additionally, Kaptio and Tauck, a global leader in exquisite guided travel experiences, have also formed a strategic collaboration that will see Kaptio's cutting-edge travel SaaS solution, Kaptio Travel, seamlessly integrated into Tauck's customer engagement and reservation processes, enhancing their ability to deliver unparalleled luxury travel experiences to their global, growing customer base.
As a testament to the depth and foresight of the projects, both Intrepid Travel and Tauck have signed multi-year commitments with Kaptio. Both partnerships underscore the importance of letting industry-leading, multi-day tour operators concentrate on creating personalized travel tailored to their audiences, while entrusting the development of sophisticated reservation and booking software to modern tech specialists.
Kaptio Expands Leadership Team to Support Growth Momentum
Kaptio is pleased to announce the expansion of its leadership team with the addition of four dynamic professionals, alongside several new additions earlier this year, and continued recruiting, all of whom are prepared to navigate new challenges and further evolution in the travel technology landscape and ensure the company’s mission to address reservation and booking technology with creativity and innovation succeeds.
Gunnar Sigurðsson joins as the new Vice President of Engineering, bringing with him over a decade of engineering experience and a track record of scale-up success. In his new role, Sigurðsson will lead a variety of teams that oversee the development, operation, and technical support of Kaptio products.
Sean Banks steps into the newly-created role of Director of Program Delivery, where his tactical vision and extensive expertise in program management will drive the company's customer initiatives.
Tracy Sharp has been appointed the new Vice President of Commercial, bringing with her over 30 years of travel industry experience. Sharp was formerly the Director of Revenue & Supply at Traveltek, where she helped navigate the company into profitability during Covid and has held a variety of high-level commercial roles at Jetline Travel, Broadway and Travel Up in the UK.
Additionally, Unnur Ösp Ásgrímsdóttir has moved to the position of Vice President of Product, where she now manages a variety of teams across the organization, including Product Management, Product Design, Product Architecture, Release & Quality, and Customer Delivery.
"Kaptio has seen remarkable growth over the past year, both in expanding our team and growing our customer base," said Ragnar Fjölnisson, cofounder and Chief Innovation Officer at Kaptio. "As we continue to innovate at the forefront of travel and technology, we're committed to driving even more growth in the coming year—welcoming new talent, strengthening partnerships, and reaching new milestones."
Media Contacts:
Nicole Powell | Bridge Creative Public Relations
+1 631 316 1246
Jessica Poteet| Kaptio Marketing
+1 832 298 0424
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