Technology

TravelPerk raises $200M as valuation nearly doubles to $2.7B

Barcelona-based business travel management platform TravelPerk has raised $200 million at a hefty $2.7 billion valuation — almost double the $1.4 billion valuation at its previous fundraise last year.

Alongside the raise, TravelPerk also announced it has acquired Swiss startup Yokoy to bring native expenses management into the fray.

With the travel and tourism industry just about back to pre-pandemic levels, this has proved a boon for startups offering everything from tour packages and trip-planning tools, to luggage storage and vacation rental smarts.

This trend has been reflected somewhat in the corporate sphere, too, with the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) noting that business travel was on course to hit a record $1.5 trillion in 2024 — 6.2% more than the pre-pandemic peak in 2019. This demand is filtering down into the corporate travel startup space, too, and investors are taking note. In September, news emerged that Denver-based Engine, which focuses on hotel bookings, flights, car rentals, and meeting spaces, had raised $140 million at a $2.1 billion valuation.

TravelPerk, for its part, touts an all-in-one platform for businesses to book, manage and report all their domestic and international travel, with integrations that extend the platform to functions such as HR and expenses.

While the pandemic has had an indelible impact on working culture in terms of remote and hybrid-working, there is little correlation between this and the the kind of corporate travel that TravelPerk is concerned with. TravelPerk president and chief operating officer, Jean-Christophe Taunay-Bucalo, pointed to its recent Value of Business Travel report, which found that companies are still planning to invest in travel to boost sales and new business efforts, such as by traveling to conferences.

“Hybrid and remote working models have had a minimal impact on demand for business travel — those who are travelling for work will continue to do so, because it’s part of their job,” Taunay-Bucalo told TechCrunch over email. “Whether it’s for a sales meeting or to install a wind turbine, there are many situations where workers need to be on the ground and in person.”

However, a more distributed workforce does mean that companies are investing more in offsites, which require travel. And TravelPerk sees this decentralization as a perfect opportunity to gets its technology into the hands of more people.

“Decentralised travel systems empower employees to manage their own bookings, and while in the past that meant a lack of control over expenses and compliance, tools built into our platform give control and visibility back to the business by providing oversight without burdening travel managers with logistical complexities,” Taunay-Bucalo said.

“Unified travel and expense”

Founded in 2015, TravelPerk had previously raised around $660 million in equity and debt capital, and with another $200 million in the bank, the company said it’s now doubling down on its global growth plans. This includes the U.S. market, where it acquired Chicago-based rival Amtrav last year with support from $135 million in debt financing.

But these growth efforts also include expanding into tangential verticals. Among TravelPerk’s existing integrations is Yokoy, an AI-enabled spend management platform backed by Sequoia Capital. And as part of its Series E funding announcement Monday, TravelPerk said it’s now acquiring Yokoy outright for an undisclosed sum — though TechCrunch is told that it was a “nine figure” transaction, which makes sense given that Yokoy had raised around $107 million since its inception in 2019.

This will allow TravelPerk to offer a “deeper and more unified travel and expense offering,” with expenses baked natively into its core platform rather than relying exclusively on third-party integrations.

“Our focus has never been stronger as we expand across core markets, accelerate growth in the U.S., and now work to become the number one travel and expense management platform,” TravelPerk co-founder and CEO Avi Meir (pictured above) said in a statement.

This mirrors moves elsewhere in the tech realm. For example, TripActions expanded into expenses management back in 2020 in response to a pandemic that put most companies’ travel plans on long-term hiatus. Ramp, meanwhile, moved in the opposite direction in 2022, adding travel management to its existing expenses product.

Expanding into expenses makes a great deal of sense, as it future-proofs against whatever headwinds the travel sector faces today and in the future. Indeed, expenses is something that all businesses have to deal with, regardless of their position on corporate travel.

As a result of the transaction, Yokoy’s team, including CEO Philippe Sahli and CTO Devis Lussi, will join TravelPerk, where they will set about integrating their respective products.

“Our partnership with Yokoy has already been a great success, and we are excited to take it to the next level by welcoming Phil, Devis, and the rest of the team to TravelPerk,” Meir said. “We share a common vision for the role of AI reshaping the future of travel and expense management, and the innovation coming out of Yokoy’s AI labs in Zurich is seriously impressive.”

TravelPerk’s Series E round was led by European venture capital firm Atomico, with participation from EQT Growth, Noteus Partners, Kinnevik, General Catalyst, among other existing investors.

Technology

The Case for Custom eLearning Platforms: Why Organizations Are Making the Switch

aloe vera plant on grey pot on table with MacBook Pro and iPad

The corporate eLearning market has exploded in recent years, growing over 800% since 2000. As the demand for eLearning continues to accelerate, more and more organizations are finding that off-the-shelf solutions cannot keep pace with their training needs. This has led many companies to make the switch to custom-built eLearning platforms tailored specifically for their requirements.

There are several key reasons driving the demand for customized eLearning tools:

Greater Flexibility and Scalability

Generic eLearning software packages often impose rigid constraints that limit their ability to adapt to an organization’s evolving needs. Meanwhile, the “one-size-fits-all” approach fails to support the personalized learning critical for employee development. Custom platforms provide flexibility to add and modify features to match ever-changing business goals. As companies scale training across global workforces, custom solutions built on cloud infrastructure can scale seamlessly to handle growing demand.

Deeper Integration Across Systems

Smooth integration with existing HR, LMS, and other business systems is critical for optimizing training workflows. However, off-the-shelf tools rarely integrate well, creating data and process siloes. Custom platforms can tightly integrate role-based learning paths with core business applications, sync user profiles, enable single sign-on, and more. This level of integration catalyzes more impactful training function.

Better Data and Analytics

Generic software severely limits access to data insights that drive improvement. Custom platforms unlock a trove of analytics on content consumption, learner progression, platform adoption, and real-time feedback. Integrated analytics dashboards and APIs allow businesses to derive deep visibility across the learner lifecycle. These insights help continuously enhance learner experience, target development gaps, and demonstrate direct training ROI.

Enhanced Learner Engagement

For modern learners accustomed to consumer-grade digital experiences, poor platform usability quickly erodes engagement. Custom designs allow companies to incorporate familiar features from popular apps and websites while optimizing for their audience. Adaptive learning approaches further personalize content to individual styles and needs. With modular component architecture, custom platforms stay on the cutting edge of new modalities like AR/ VR to captivate learners.

Brand and Culture Alignment

Off-the-shelf tools impose a generic and often disruptive experience that clashes with existing brand identity and culture. In contrast, custom platforms allow organizations to carry over familiar styling, voice, and workflow patterns. Consistency in experience preserves brand recognition while smoother onboarding leads to wider adoption across all employee groups. Over time, the platform can evolve alongside cultural changes as well.

While custom elearning tools require greater upfront investment, for enterprise training needs, the long-term benefits far outweigh the costs. The ability to mold platforms to current and future needs results in greater leverage from learning spend.

As businesses demand ever-more from their learning technology, custom solutions provide the agility needed for true scale. Rather than forcing training functions into the constraints of generic software, custom elearning development keeps the focus on nurturing talent and capabilities. For any organization looking to drive workforce transformation through learning, custom elearning represents the way forward.

Technology

Pintarnya raises $16.7M to power jobs and financial services in Indonesia

Pintarnya, an Indonesian employment platform that goes beyond job matching by offering financial services along with full-time and side-gig opportunities, said it has raised a $16.7 million Series A round.

The funding was led by Square Peg with participation from existing investors Vertex Venture Southeast Asia & India and East Ventures.

Ghirish Pokardas, Nelly Nurmalasari, and Henry Hendrawan founded Pintarnya in 2022 to tackle two of the biggest challenges Indonesians face daily: earning enough and borrowing responsibly.

“Traditionally, mass workers in Indonesia find jobs offline through job fairs or word of mouth, with employers buried in paper applications and candidates rarely hearing back. For borrowing, their options are often limited to family/friend or predatory lenders with harsh collection practices,” Henry Hendrawan, co-founder of Pintarnya, told TechCrunch. “We digitize job matching with AI to make hiring faster and we provide workers with safer, healthier lending options — designed around what they can reasonably afford, rather than pushing them deeper into debt.”

Around 59% of Indonesia’s 150 million workforce is employed in the informal sector, highlighting the difficulties these workers encounter in accessing formal financial services because they lack verifiable income and official employment documentation.

Pintarnya tackles this challenge by partnering with asset-backed lenders to offer secured loans, using collateral such as gold, electronics, or vehicles, Hendrawan added.

Since its seed funding in 2022, the platform currently serves over 10 million job seeker users and 40,000 employers nationwide. Its revenue has increased almost fivefold year-over-year and expects to reach break-even by the end of the year, Hendrawn noted. Pintarnya primarily serves users aged 21 to 40, most of whom have a high school education or a diploma below university level. The startup aims to focus on this underserved segment, given the large population of blue-collar and informal workers in Indonesia.

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“Through the journey of building employment services, we discovered that our users needed more than just jobs — they needed access to financial services that traditional banks couldn’t provide,” said Hendrawan. “We digitize job matching with AI to make hiring faster and we provide workers with safer, healthier lending options — designed around what they can reasonably afford, rather than pushing them deeper into debt.”

Pintarnya Founders Press Kit — image credits: Pintarnya (Founders of Pintarnya Ghirish Pokardas, Nelly Nurmalasari, and Henry Hendrawan)

While Indonesia already has job platforms like JobStreet, Kalibrr, and Glints, these primarily cater to white-collar roles, which represent only a small portion of the workforce, according to Hendrawan. Pintarnya’s platform is designed specifically for blue-collar workers, offering tailored experiences such as quick-apply options for walk-in interviews, affordable e-learning on relevant skills, in-app opportunities for supplemental income, and seamless connections to financial services like loans.

The same trend is evident in Indonesia’s fintech sector, which similarly caters to white-collar or upper-middle-class consumers. Conventional credit scoring models for loans, which rely on steady monthly income and bank account activity, often leave blue-collar workers overlooked by existing fintech providers, Hendrawan explained.

When asked about which fintech services are most in demand, Hendrawan mentioned, “Given their employment status, lending is the most in-demand financial service for Pintarnya’s users today. We are planning to ‘graduate’ them to micro-savings and investments down the road through innovative products with our partners.”

The new funding will enable Pintarnya to strengthen its platform technology and broaden its financial service offerings through strategic partnerships. With most Indonesian workers employed in blue-collar and informal sectors, the co-founders see substantial growth opportunities in the local market. Leveraging their extensive experience in managing businesses across Southeast Asia, they are also open to exploring regional expansion when the timing is right.

“Our vision is for Pintarnya to be the everyday companion that empowers Indonesians to not only make ends meet today, but also plan, grow, and upgrade their lives tomorrow … In five years, we see Pintarnya as the go-to super app for Indonesia’s workers, not just for earning income, but as a trusted partner throughout their life journey,” Hendrawan said. “We want to be the first stop when someone is looking for work, a place that helps them upgrade their skills, and a reliable guide as they make financial decisions.”

Technology

OpenAI warns against SPVs and other ‘unauthorized’ investments

In a new blog post, OpenAI warns against “unauthorized opportunities to gain exposure to OpenAI through a variety of means,” including special purpose vehicles, known as SPVs.

“We urge you to be careful if you are contacted by a firm that purports to have access to OpenAI, including through the sale of an SPV interest with exposure to OpenAI equity,” the company writes. The blog post acknowledges that “not every offer of OpenAI equity […] is problematic” but says firms may be “attempting to circumvent our transfer restrictions.”

“If so, the sale will not be recognized and carry no economic value to you,” OpenAI says.

Investors have increasingly used SPVs (which pool money for one-off investments) as a way to buy into hot AI startups, prompting other VCs to criticize them as a vehicle for “tourist chumps.”

Business Insider reports that OpenAI isn’t the only major AI company looking to crack down on SPVs, with Anthropic reportedly telling Menlo Ventures it must use its own capital, not an SPV, to invest in an upcoming round.