South Africa-based online travel booking platform TravelStart raised $40m on Wednesday from mobile network operator MTN and investment firm Amadeus Capital Partners.
Originally founded in Sweden in 1999, TravelStart spun out its African holdings into a new business in 2010. It offers a specialised service that navigates local supply, language and currency issues, and users are able to pay for holidays using a variety of payment methods.
The company, which has not disclosed details of past funding, claims to now hold a 75% share in the 16 African and Middle Eastern countries in which it operates, serving two million monthly users.
Herman Singh, MTN’s chief digital officer, said: “This investment in the largest multi-national player in a very large and rapidly growing market positions MTN as an enabler of exciting new leading edge businesses.
“The MTN footprint, subscriber base, payment capability, network and brand awareness strongly underpin the synergies already being manifested in our other investments. We look forward to working with Amadeus and the TravelStart team to accelerate the business development of this adjacency.”