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Skyscanner

Skyscanner is the leading global search travel company providing instant online comparisons by searching millions of flights across over 1,000 airlines as well as hotels and car hire. The company employs over 770 staff, with offices in Barcelona, Beijing, Budapest, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Miami, Shenzhen, Singapore and Sofia.

Headquartered in Edinburgh, Skyscanner received its first investment from SEP in 2007, before US venture capital house Sequoia invested in 2013. In January 2016 the company attracted five new investors - Artemis, Baillie Gifford, Khazanah, Vitruvian Partners andYahoo! JAPAN - as it continues to enjoy rapid growth in the £332 billion online travel market.

The company was acquired by Ctrip, China's largest online travel group, for £1.4 billion in November 2016.

 

video_placeholder Winner - BVCA National Management Team Awards 2017

Venture capital impact

  • FOUNDED IN 2003 BY THREE FRIENDS WITH AN EXCEL SPREADSHEET, IT IS NOW VALUED AT OVER US$1.6 BILLION

  • REVENUE GROWTH FROM LESS THAN £1M IN 2007 TO MORE THAN £120M IN 2015

  • EXPANSION OF WORKFORCE FROM 28 TO MORE THAN 770

  • FUNDED DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM AND MULTI-LINGUAL SITE IN OVER 30 LANGUAGES

  • LAUNCH OF THE SKYSCANNER APP, HELPING TRAVELLERS BOOK FLIGHTS, HOTELS AND CAR HIRE ON THE GO

  • LAUNCH OF SKYSCANNER FOR BUSINESS WHICH HAS MORE THAN 400 CORPORATE PARTNERS

  • ACQUISITION OF CHINESE TRAVEL METASEARCH COMPANY, YOUBIBI, TO ESTABLISH AN ENGINEERING TEAM IN CHINA

  • NEW OFFICE IN SHENZHEN, CHINA, SUPPORTS SIGNIFICANT GROWTH

  • ADDITIONAL ACQUISITION OF BUDAPEST-BASED MOBILE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY DISTINCTION

  • NINTH GLOBAL OFFICE OPENED IN SOFIA, WITH EXPANSIONS TO EXISTING OFFICES IN GLASGOW, SINGAPORE AND BEIJING

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Gareth Williams, CEO, Skyscanner

"Skyscanner’s position as a world leading travel search business would not have been possible without the great support we have had from SEP. They have been a consistently engaged, informed and astute partner throughout our journey."


Achievements

WINNER - BVCA MANAGEMENT TEAM AWARDS 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017

  • LARGE COMPANY TEAM OF THE YEAR 2017 - SCOTLAND

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Skyscanner


Location
Edinburgh

Backers 
SEP: 2007 – 2016
Sequoia: 2013 – 2016
Vitruvian Partners: 2016


More information