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November 27, 2013 02:36 pm GMT
Original Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/n9c054wxWhQ/
Multimodal Travel Startup, FromAtoB, Closes 7-Figure Series A To Expand Internationally & Go Mobile
Munich-based multimodal journey planner startup, fromAtoB– which operates under the rather less catchy name ofVerkehrsmittelVergleich.de in its home market of Germany - has closed a seven-figure Series A expansion round. The startup, which was founded back in 2008 but only launched its internationalized fromAtoB brand name in July this year, has snagged investment fromFrench VC firmSeventure PartnersandDaniel Wild, CEO of Ecommerce Alliance and Tiburon. Prior to this expansion round, the company raised a six-figure seed back in 2009 fromfour business angels, including Dr. Florian Heinemann, ex MD of Rocket Internet, now MD of Project-A; along with the aforementioned Wild. It also gained a subsidy from the German state to get the business off the ground. FromAtoB, whose website letstravellers figure out the quickest and cheapest way to get where they want to go,is already breaking even - via affiliate commissions with transport provider partners, plus cross-selling and display advertising.But Managing Director,Dr Johannes Gramann,told TechCrunch it plans to use this cashflow plus the new funding to expand its integration with international carriers, especially in the rail and long distance bus sector. “We plan to internationalize further countries and develop a mobile app,” he added. If you're wondering why you haven't heard of fromAtoB, that may be because they haven't done any marketing yet - rather, they've been relying on SEOand partnerships with destination and reach portals, plus return visitors, to grow their user-base. They're also pretty skewed, in terms of usage, towards their home market - with circa 70% of their 2.6 million monthly visitors coming from Germany (making VerkehrsmittelVergleich.de their largest domain). But that's also set to change.”We will, for the first time, spend money on marketing measures to further promote the service under the brand fromAtoB,” saidGramann. FromAtoB's search engine is available in 15 countries, translated into 11 languages and generates total ticket sales for all its transport infoproviders of more than 16M annually. It broadened its focus out from the German market six months ago to Europe in general, and is also now eyeing up the US as what it see as one of its “core markets” in future. Currently fromAtoB's largest foreign markets are France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland, according to Gramann. “With the moneyfromthe investment we have planned to penetrate 10 core markets. That are basically the most relevant markets in Europe plus U.S.,” he added. FromAtoB'smultimodal search engine compares more than 700 providers of train,Original Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/n9c054wxWhQ/
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