One of the biggest investment rounds so far in 2012 in travel revealed today with news that SilverRail Technologies has secured a $15 million in B Series funding.
The round was led by Canaan Partners and also included previous investors Sutter Hill, Accel Partners, GrandBanks Capital and Brook Ventures.
The latest investment has a specific purpose, SilverRail says, allowing it to continue adding new rail operators to its train ticket booking system and the "development of cross-border and inter-carrier journey planning".
News of the round marks the end of a busy 12 months for the US and UK-based company, after winning $5 million in investment in April last year, capturing its first online travel agency partner in Ebookers and unveiling its multi-country booking service in October 2011.
The total amount of money invested in SilverRail now stands at almost $30 million. The company launched in July 2010 [TLabs Showcase - SilverRail Technologies] with an initial warchest of $9.6 million.
Canaan's involvement is the venture group's first investment since securing its own $600 million fund.
Companies now tapped into SilverRail include AgentWare, Atriis Technologies, Dolphin Dynamics, Egencia, eGlobalfares, GetThere, KDS, Orbitz for Business and Rearden Commerce.
SilverRail CEO and co-founder, Aaron Gowell, believes passenger rail will "increasingly dominate regional travel", not least because of what he calls a "perfect storm" of factors coming together.
"200 mph trains replacing regional air travel; rail markets deregulating and creating competition; a 90% cleaner environmental footprint than air travel; and, $200bn a year investment in infrastructure," he says.
This is, Gowell says, twice the investment currently being made in the commercial air industry.
NB:Train image via Shutterstock.