The recent company to join the venture capital industry is none other than the GDS giant Amadeus.
Today, Amadeus has officially announced its foray into (early stage) investing in travel startups that have technology as a backbone.
The main objective of Amadeus Ventures is to identify and invest in startups that have already developed a working prototype and focuses on niche areas/sectors that Amadeus believes are at the forefront of developing market trends.
The company says in its blog:
"Nowadays, with consumers rapidly adopting new products, open source platforms prevailing and an ever increasing number of new entrants, being a leader also means helping to nurture new ventures and startups in the travel and hospitality space.
It is just as important to us that we encourage innovation for the travel industry, since innovation is part of Amadeus’ DNA."
Startups that are funded by Amadeus Ventures will also enjoy the benefit of Amadeus' operational assistance, gaining access to its extensive global network, industry knowledge and IT capabilities.
Of course, Amadeus's move is not just for love.
"Amadeus is looking at the potential financial performance of the investment, but equally at the tight commercial relationships that we will foster with the companies we invest in."
Amadeus Ventures has already led an investment round in Yapta, the airfare price insurance service. Yapta is the developer of FareIQ, a price tracking technology which provides in-depth, 24×7 analysis and insights into corporate airfares.
The venture arm says it is already in the process of evaluating and analyzing further investments.
Abacus, the APAC-focused GDS also has a venture wing - Abacus Ventures.
Spearheading this trend some three and a half years ago was Concur, which outlined how it would be making strategic investments through a dedicated fund.
While the competitors of Amadeus - Sabre and Travelport - do not have investment divisions per se, they both have their respective marketplaces for developers around the globe to build travel tech products to increase innovation in and around the GDSs businesses.
Travelport recently launched its iTunes-style marketplace for travel agent applications. Sabre has had its Red App store marketplace since the summer of 2011.
NB: Investment image via Shutterstock.