Swansea-based business travel platform venture Ortharize has secured a near £500,000 equity boost to support its growth plans.
The company had an initial target to raise £300,000, but the round was oversubscribed by 150%. The round was led by the Development Bank of Wales which supported Ortharize in their initial round back in March 2020. The latest round, which secured £458,000, was also backed Crowdcube, a crowdfunding provider that attracted over 100 micro investors. To date Ortharize has raised just under £1m.
Funds will be used to expand commercial activities and continue to improve the self-service business travel booking platform.
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Post the latest round management and staff in the company have maintained a majority 69% ownership staff. The business, which employs 15, has set an ambitious revenue level of £230m by 2028.
Ortharize’s platform offers a range of features designed to simplify and streamline the business travel booking process, including real-time flight and hotel availability, travel approvals and reporting, through a website and mobile application. It also enables companies to measure and offset their carbon footprint.
With its free-to-use platform that generates revenue from hotels, airlines, and service providers via commissions and marked-up net fares, Ortharize is aiming to revolutionise the business travel industry, which is forecasted to grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025.
Gary Wardrope, chief executive and co-founder, said: “We are thrilled to have overfunded our investment round and to have raised more than we set out to. This additional funding will help us fuel our commercial expansion and take Ortharize to the next level.
“We’ve come a long way from our first round as Covid-19 began- we’ve weathered one of the most difficult periods ever for the travel industry and come out the other side with a fantastic platform in operation and over two dozen clients trusting us with their business travel requirements.
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“With this funding, we’ll be able to put our sales and marketing plans into action and attract even more businesses to start using Ortharize.”
Chris Flynn, director of operations and co-founder, said: “Ortharize is well positioned to win business from other travel management companies who aren’t investing as much as we are into the future of business travel.
“Over the last year, we’ve introduced a huge number of features, many suggested and built alongside our clients, to improve financial reconciliation, reduce fees and lower travel spend, as well as initiatives to enhance employee safety and business intelligence reporting.
“As former business travellers, we know the problems that business travellers and travel managers are facing and we’re solving them. More and more clients are joining Ortharize each month, which I think is testament to our client-focussed approach.”