US-based employee travel rewards platform Rocketrip secured $15m on Wednesday in a series C round led by GV, a corporate venturing arm of internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet.
The round also featured venture capital firms Bessemer Venture Partners and Canaan Partners. GV partner Erik Nordland will join the company’s board of directors in connection with its investment.
Founded in 2013, Rocketrip runs a travel rewards scheme for businesses that encourages employees to find the best deal on company-funded trips by giving them benefits such as gift cards. It claims to have facilitated an average of $208 in efficiencies per business trip.
Rocketrip will use the series C funding to hire additional enterprise sales personnel with the aim of onboarding more clients. Proceeds will also support the development of managed travel policies for clients alongside unspecified business-orientated travel agents.
The company has now raised a total of $31.6m in funding across five rounds, according to media releases and regulatory filings. It attracted $9m in a mid-2016 series B round led by Bessemer and backed by Canaan Partners and Genacast Ventures.
Canaan and Genacast had previously co-led Rocketrip’s $3m series A1 round in 2014, with contributions from CrunchFund and private investor Paul Buchheit. The company added $2m from unnamed investors the following year.
Nordland said: “Rocketrip’s approach to corporate travel is unique in its ability to align employer and employee incentives when it comes to booking travel.
“We were drawn to invest in Rocketrip because it has demonstrated significant savings for its growing customer base, rewarding employees when they book business travel in a more cost-effective way.”