NEW Zealand travel technology firm Serko has announced a capital raising to allow it to “continue to execute on its global growth strategy”.
Announced this week at the company’s results release for the six months to 30 Sep, the money will be raised by a NZ$75 million fully underwritten share placement along with a further NZ$10 million non-underwritten retail offer.
“The funds raised will be used to continue to invest for growth into the unmanaged travel segment through our Booking.com for Business partnership; accelerate the development of our global marketplace strategy, and pursue opportunities for inorganic global expansion,” according to CEO Darrin Grafton.
He said following the successful migration of Booking.com for Business customers to the new Zeno-powered solution, Serko would undertake “targeted investment to optimise customer engagement and extend the offering across global markets to maximise the potential of the opportunity”.
Grafton also confirmed that Serko was on the hunt for acquisitions, assessing opportunities to allow the company to expand its global volume and content efficiently.
Plans include the development of a “global marketplace strategy” which will transform Zeno from an online booking tool into a distributed marketplace, creating “an ecosystem of travel content suppliers and business travel market segments connected through the Zeno platform”.
Serko’s total revenue jumped 81% for the half year, while its total income increased 16% to $9.9 million due to a 157% uplift in travel booking volumes – but the overall loss was $15.2 million.
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Source: traveldaily