Uplift, a travel financing company says it has raised $90 million in funding via a credit facility as well as new equity.
The $75 million represents a credit facility from "funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group" while the $15 million equity comes via previous investors which include PAR Capital while Draper Nexus, Highgate Ventures and Erik Blachford, former Expedia CEO, also participated in the funds.
UpLift, which provides a pay monthly scheme enabling travellers to spread the cost of trips, already has companies include American Airlines Vacations as a partner with Lufthansa set to join according to a statement.
In the statement founder and CEO Brian Barth says:
“There is an acute need for travel-specific solutions that make consumer travel more affordable, accessible and rewarding, while providing upside revenue opportunities for suppliers without any operational impact. The technologists that created metasearch have created UpLift Pay Monthly, the only solution that provides fixed monthly payments at low interest rates and also allows consumers to pay with their favorite co-branded credit cards, earning points and miles. The capital events announced today allow us continue to scale and accelerate our solution across travel categories and worldwide.”
UpLift's founders were part of the team that set up one of the first metasearch services, SideStep, which was later acquired by Kayak.
Blachford says:
“UpLift's solution benefits both travelers and the world’s biggest travel brands. I’m excited to participate in an innovation that is changing the way consumers book and pay for travel, allowing them to maximize and enjoy travel experiences as they never have before."
The UpLift Pay Monthly service is already available on the vacation sites of a number of US airlines including United, JetBlue and Southwest.