Omio Group has entered into an agreement to acquire Rail Europe, a global distributor of European rail tickets founded in the 1930s.
Neither company would disclose the deal’s financial terms.
Separately, Omio has received a $10 million investment from Granite-Integral to expand in Asia.
“The proposed acquisition of Rail Europe would significantly strengthen our global rail capabilities and distribution network, while Granite-Integral's investment and regional expertise will help us accelerate our expansion across Japan and Southeast Asia,” Omio CEO Naren Shaam said.
Together, Shaam said he expects the deals to strengthen Omio’s international growth capabilities as it connects with additional operators, serves new travelers and continues to build its ground transportation network.
Omio, founded in 2013 as GoEuro, offers transportation options from more than 3,000 providers across trains, buses, flights and ferries directly to travelers through its app and through its API and white label products to partners including Uber, Kayak, Google and TUI Group. The company is headquartered in Berlin.
Rail Europe, headquartered in Paris, provides train booking from European rail operators through its website and app. It also provides rail ticketing services to more than 15,000 travel professionals in 70 countries.
Rail Europe acquisition marks push for B2B growth
Once the deal closes, Rail Europe will become part of Omio Group, which also includes Rome2Rio, acquired in 2019. The deal is anticipated to close in September, according to Jean-Francois Bessiron, chief B2B officer at Omio Group.
“Consolidation will create a really, really strong travel tech player,” said Björn Bender, CEO of Rail Europe, during an interview with PhocusWire.
Bessiron said the businesses are complementary, with Rail Europe offering commercial channels, expertise and brand heritage and Omio offering technology, inventory, multimodality and B2C expertise.
Bender agreed in a press release, calling the pair a natural fit: “Together, we would offer more to our travelers, partners and the rail industry than either company could achieve on its own."
Together, we would offer more to our travelers, partners and the rail industry than either company could achieve on its own.
Björn Bender, Rail Europe
While both companies run B2B and B2C operations and plan to continue doing so, the acquisition comes with the opportunity to “turbocharge” and diversify Rail Europe’s B2B side, Bessiron said.
“[B2B] is still a smaller business at the moment [for] Omio, but with this acquisition, this will be a much bigger part compared to what it is today,” Bessiron told PhocusWire. “So we really see an opportunity here to be a much more established player in B2B.”
“We see completely incremental distribution channels compared to what Omio has today, and with no cannibalization,” he said. “What we see is the opportunity to bring Omio much larger inventory … rail, bus, ferries, etc. into those existing distribution channels that Rail Europe has.”
On the B2C side, Bessiron said that Omio is well suited to help Rail Europe strengthen its position.
“They have good brand equity in North America, for example, much more than the Omio brand,” he said. “So there's an opportunity for us to help them really develop that with the technology and the know-how that we [have] in B2C.”
Omio said that with the acquisition it could sell 22 million train tickets annually and work with more than 28,000 operators and travel sellers as it broadens its ground transport proposition.
Bessiron said that Omio has worked hard to create a unified data layer across all modes of transport and that the “mosaic” of ground transport is becoming simpler to navigate.
With the acquisition, Omio can make that layer accessible to Rail Europe, giving users the ability to book different modes of transport or connected trips via Rail Europe.
Earlier this month Omio Group acquired CoachRun, an intercity bus company operating on the East Coast of the United States.
Why now?
This acquisition comes roughly four years after French private equity firm Hivest Capital acquired Rail Europe from its longstanding owner SNCF, creating an independent entity.
Over the last few years, Rail Europe has been focused on seamless travel. With Omio, Bender believes that can happen—and that the company can expand its product catalog beyond European rail.
“We are making this decision now because we believe that we found the right partner for the future,” Bender said.
While Omio and Rail Europe have reached an agreement on the acquisition, the transformation and integration processes, as well as structural changes, are yet to be determined.
On the Omio side, things will be “very much business as usual” as due process takes place, Bessiron said.
There will be no immediate changes on the Rail Europe side, either. The brand’s future will be mapped out during the integration process, Bender said, adding that he is committed to remaining on the Rail Europe team through the transition and integration phases.
Beyond that, he isn’t sure what his role will look like.
“Then it's my decision I need to [make] for myself if I want to step into this next chapter—in probably a newly defined role—or not,” Bender said. “And the honest answer is I don't know yet.”
$10M for expansion in Asia
The $10 million strategic investment from Granite-Integral is intended to speed Omio’s growth in Japan and Southeast Asia. Granite-Integral launched in March 2025 as a joint venture between Singapore-based venture capital firm Granite Asia and Japanese private equity firm Integral.
The funding follows Omio’s March launch in Japan.
"With Granite-Integral's unparalleled regional expertise, we intend to accelerate a new era of connected travel in Japan, expand our presence across Southeast Asia and continue building a more connected future for travel across Asia,” Shaam said.
Granite-Integral offers expertise across the region’s travel and technology sectors and relationships in the investment space. The partnership also allows Omio to deepen its transport network, strengthen local partnerships, refine offerings and grow teams in Japan and Singapore with its artificial intelligence hub.
“Japan and South East Asia represent some of the most important long-term opportunities in global travel, with growing demand for more connected journeys across the region,” said CK Choun, co-head of Granite-Integral.
“Omio has built a highly differentiated multimodal platform with the technology and transport network needed to simplify increasingly fragmented travel experiences,” Choun continued. “We're excited to support the company as it continues expanding across Asia.”
Omio has had multiple prior funding rounds, including an $80 million Series E raise in 2022.