Spain’s TravelPerk Snaps Up UK’s Click Travel

TravelPerk, provider of business travel and expense management, is acquiring Click Travel, a specialist in corporate domestic travel, for an undisclosed amount, Avi Meir, CEO and co-founder of TravelPerk, said in a blog post on Tuesday (July 6).

Click Travel’s entire 150-person workforce is joining the TravelPerk team. Click Travel’s Birmingham headquarters will become a branch for the combined entity.

“We are working to shape the future of business travel, and Click Travel represents a giant step forward in achieving that goal,” Meir said in the post. “They are truly the undisputed leader in UK domestic business travel. They have outstanding talent and a culture that mirrors our own.”

The acquisition also positions TravelPerk as the largest SMB-focused travel management platform globally as well as being the dominant business travel platform in the U.K., per the post. Click Travel facilitates business travel for 2,000-plus small and medium-sized business (SMB) clients totaling some £300 million.

TravelPerk said it remained future-focus throughout the pandemic and didn’t have to lay off any employees.

“Click Travel and TravelPerk share the same mission: to reduce the cost and complexity of business travel for everyone involved by offering the best inventory and technology and delighting our customers with superb customer service throughout,” James McLean, CEO of Click Travel, said in a press release announcing the acquisition.

Boston hedge fund manager The Baupost Group backed TravelPerk with the necessary capital to fund the acquisition of Click Travel, which includes talent, technology and customers.

The move is TravelPerk’s third and largest acquisition. The company combined with risk management startup Albatross in July 2020 and acquired the U.S. business travel platform NexTravel in January, according to the press release.

TravelPerk teamed with Divvy last month to advance solutions for business travel and management. The acquisition follows TravelPerk’s Series D funding round in April totaling $160 million, adding to the $294 million the company raised to date.

The final number crunching totaling the revenue loss to the travel industry during the pandemic is tallied, but as of May, PYMNTS reported that there were 62 million jobs lost worldwide in the travel space, with roughly 5.6 million lost in the U.S.