Bengaluru-based MeTripping Technologies Pvt Ltd, which operates under the name Pathfndr.io, has raised a pre-Series A funding of an undisclosed amount.
The round was led by Arali Ventures, with participation from SEA Fund, Wayfare Ventures, KPB Family Trust (family office of KP Balaraj, Co-founder of WestBridge Capital and Sequoia Capital India), Acsys Investments, and Capital A (Family office of Manjushree Ventures).
The funding also saw participation from prominent angels like JAZFund LLC, Shravan Gupta (built Travel Tours and exited to FCM), as well as founders of unicorns Chargebee and Freshworks.
Pathfndr had previously raised capital led by Haresh Chawla, Krishnakumar Natarajan, Manchanda Capital, and Oliphans Capital, among others.
“The travel advisor plays an important role in understanding context and providing comfort to the traveler. They are a crucial cog in what we see as a hybrid service model for the traveler. Through a sub-15 minute onboarding process and a plug-and-play model, we are helping create new monetisation sources for travel agencies and travel influencers (a blue ocean segment) that most didn’t think was possible,” said Varun Gupta, Founder and CEO at Pathfndr.
In a statement, the startup said this new round of funding will be used to continue to invest in product innovation at scale and increase the global sales team.
The company said it will focus on setting up operations in North America to cater to large demand in the region, creating the most comprehensive global supply solution in a single place, and building additional products to help travel sellers move to a remote-first platform for the 21st-century traveler.
In the eight to nine months since launching this product, the startup already claims to have customers in over 20 countries, clocking its highest monthly revenues for most months in 2021.
“Pathfndr enables the small and medium sized travel agency and influencer to become truly digital and levels the playing field for them with the large online travel aggregators on dimensions such as consumer experience, flexibility, and access,” said Rajiv Raghunandan, Managing Partner at Arali Ventures.
Pathfndr is the business model pivot of MeTripping Technologies during the pandemic. MeTripping started as a B2C company, and when the solution saw interest from large travel agencies, it partnered with some of the largest travel companies for intelligent travel solutions.