Big fund-raising deal alert: Momondo Group has taken a cash injection of £80 million (approximately $130 million) from Boston-based Great Hill Partners.
The company claims the investment, in a deal brokered by Arma Partners, values the brand at £132 million ($210 million).
The GHP private equity fund will take a majority stake (undisclosed) in the company and CEO Hugo Burge will stay on as CEO, alongside his existing senior management team.
Momondo says it has experienced "explosive growth" internationally as more than 85% of its overall revenues are generated from business outside of the UK, home to its original Cheapflights brand.
But the acquisition of the Denmark-based Momondo in 2011 saw the company switch its attention from travel deals publishing to metasearch, including a switch of the umbrella company name to Momondo Group.
Burge says:
"As a business, Momondo Group has expanded rapidly over the last two years and is well-positioned to capitalise on the growth in the meta travel sector. We received expressions of interest from a wide range of high-calibre corporate and private equity investors.
"After a robust process we are pleased to be working closely with an investor who understands our culture and shares our vision – in a partnership which we believe represents the best outcome for our diverse range of stakeholders and investors."
The company says the massive injection of funds will give it the chance to focus on "focus on growing the business and more rapidly capitalise on the double-digit growth rates in the travel meta market".
Securing the £80 million from GHP comes four months after the company stated it was looking at strategic options, despite receiving a credit facility of $5 million from Barclays in June this year.
The reality, however, is that Momondo was always going to need some sort of new and heavyweight financial backing in order to challenge the likes of Priceline-owned Kayak, Skyscanner and Wego if it was to realise its global ambitions.
The last set of financials Momondo disclosed were earlier this year, covering 2013.
Revenue across the group increased by 29% year-on-year to £14.5 million for the first quarter of 2014, with EBITDA over the same period up by a third to £3.2 million. At the time the company was forecasting around £50 million in revenue for the full year 2014.