Plusgrade gets investment from General Atlantic to fuel growth, M&A

Plusgrade, which provides ancillary revenue solutions for companies across the travel industry, has received a strategic growth investment from General Atlantic.

Financial terms of the investment are not being disclosed. As part of the transaction, Novacap is exiting its stake in Plusgrade and existing investor CDPQ is remaining as a “significant shareholder.”

Founded in 2009 and based in Montreal, Plusgrade works with more than 200 airline, hospitality, cruise, passenger rail and financial services companies to help them create new revenue streams through ancillary products and services.

In a post on LinkedIn, Plusgrade said it will leverage General Atlantic’s “deep expertise across travel, software and technology.” And General Atlantic said along with the funding it will “partner with Plusgrade” to support the company’s acceleration of new business segments, operational initiatives and mergers and acquisitions.

In the past two years, Plusgrade has made two acquisitions: Points.com in 2022 and UpStay in 2023.

“Ancillary revenue has become a critical driver of financial robustness for travel companies in every sector, and as the global ancillary revenue powerhouse, Plusgrade plays a central role in helping our travel partners create, grow and enable major new revenue opportunities,” said Ken Harris, founder and CEO of Plusgrade.

“We believe we have significant opportunity ahead of us to continue innovating and building out our leading portfolio even further. Our team is deeply grateful to Novacap for their transformative partnership and all the new heights that we achieved together. We are thrilled to welcome General Atlantic as a strategic partner to help us accelerate our mission and vision by leveraging the firm’s deep expertise across travel, software and technology.”

And said Tanzeen Syed, managing director and head of consumer internet and technology at General Atlantic, “With ancillary revenues and loyalty programs standing as some of the most important drivers of growth in the travel industry today, we believe Plusgrade is strongly positioned to continue capturing the market. We have strong conviction in Plusgrade’s vision and are excited to support the company in future value creation initiatives.”