13 Apr 2017

TripCreator raises $2 million, banishes B2C trip planning service

Fresh from a $2 million funding round, TripCreator is focusing solely on a B2B model rather than trying to push its consumer-facing platform.

The Iceland-based startup, which officially launched less than two years ago, raised the seed money from a group of private angel investors in its home market.

It has now raised almost $5 million in investment since February 2013, when the idea was first conceived to create a travel planning platform.

The company says it had “a lot of returning customers” to the B2C service but, similarly to countless other trip planning startups, “margins are low and customer acquisition is expensive”.

Head of marketing Bragi Antoniusson says:

“It’s simply a better business model to leverage the technology we’ve already built and get a steady income from our customers.We decided to shut down the consumer site so that we’re not seen as competitors to our current and potential customers and to focus our marketing and development efforts on what is now our main product.

“We decided to shut down the consumer site so that we’re not seen as competitors to our current and potential customers and to focus our marketing and development efforts on what is now our main product.”

The B2B TripCreator allows users to build itineraries, with maps, calendars and timelines built in.

Items such as things to do and hotels can be added to the checklist and, if available, a purchase or reservation can be made.

National airline IcelandAir will be the first carrier to integrate the TripCreator white label platform.

A number of online travel agencies are also expected to go live with it at some point in the near future.