London-based startup Duffel has raised $21.5 million for its travel distribution platform, which is currently operating in stealth mode.
Benchmark, which has invested in companies including Uber, Twitter and Snap, led the Series A round, with participation from Blossom Capital and Index Ventures, which participated in Duffel’s $4.7 million seed round last year.
The company says it’s building a “next-generation travel platform” that will connect online agents, including individual travel agents, large online travel management companies and tour operators, with their end customers.
“The travel industry is underpinned by archaic software and processes that are fundamentally prohibitive for the modern day traveler,” says Steve Domin, Duffle co-founder and CEO.
“We are reinventing the underwiring between online agents and the providers - airlines, hotels, transport operators - in much the same way that the payments world is changing for merchants, because of tools like Adyen and Stripe.”
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With the funds, Duffel, which graduated from startup program Y Combinator, will hire additional engineers and grow its London team; its current engineering team includes alumni from GoCardless, Gitlab and Turo.
Says Chetan Puttagunta, general partner at Benchmark: “We have been watching Duffel from a distance and we are incredibly excited by the possibility it has to create something valuable for customers and travel providers alike.
“Duffel is focused on providing a better booking experience by building a platform that is easy to use with deep functionality.”
Founded in 2017, Duffel plans to launch its product in the fall of this year.