Brisbane travel startup Travello raises $5 million to grow internationally

Brisbane-based travel startup Travello has raised $5 million in funding from private investors to grow its app for travellers and further the development of its new software-as-a-service (SaaS) marketing platform BlueTee.

Founded by Mark Cantoni and Ryan Hanly as Outbound in 2014, Travello’s core service operates as a social network for travellers in over 180 countries, helping them find others with similar interests with whom they can link up to discover and attend events and match travel plans.

The startup reported that the Travello app is now being used by more than 350,000 travellers, with 1.8 million events recorded on the Travello feed this past July.

Hanly, CEO of Travello, said the startup’s growth has come in large part thanks to its being able to grow a “connected tribe of passionate travellers”.

“We’ve done this via an unrelenting focus on the community and the product – making sure we give our users what they want. This has led to a significant amount of ‘organic network effect’. Having an engaged community of travellers is, and will remain, at the very core of what we do,” he said.

“I think timing has played a role too. The adoption of mobile technology, particularly in travel, has grown exponentially even over the last three years. Travellers aren’t using tablets or PCs, it’s all mobile. So I think our timing was on-point with what was happening in society, which has led to greater adoption. Who knows, if we launched five years earlier it just may have been too soon.” Read more

Gina Baldassarre - Startup Daily - 28 August 2018