Travel Counsellors acquires technology business and eyes £1bn of sales
Travel Counsellors, the Manchester headquartered network of home-based travel advisers has acquired Planisto, a travel technology platform and its key development team.
The fee for the acquisition is undisclosed.
The Planisto platform has been developed by Belgian B2B travel technology company EURAM and will be integrated into Travel Counsellors’ technology development enabling the Travel Counsellors team to build highly complex travel itineraries and presenting these intuitively to consumers.
In November, chief executive Steve Byrne told TheBusinessDesk.com how Vetruvian, its private equity backers who bought a stake in the business from Equistone in 2018, have supported Byrne and continue to invest in technology with £10m scheduled to be deployed to support a now 60-strong technology team.
In the year to 31 October 2023, Total Transaction Value (“TTV”) on the platform was more than £900m, up more than 20% against the prior year. In 2021 the business made a £6.8m loss, reflecting the impact of the pandemic.
Last night (2 January 2024) Byrne said Planisto had been on his radar “for some time” and the development team behind it had shared culture and values.
“This acquisition is perfectly aligned with our culture of delivering unrivalled customer care as well as our strategic focus on developing our technology and offering to drive further growth in the premium-leisure segment of the market,” he said.
“In addition to strengthening our proprietary tech stack and talent, the deal will significantly accelerate our current technology development roadmap for Phenix, our end-to-end proprietary technology platform. It will further improve our end-customer booking experience whilst also strengthening our position in the Benelux region, where we have a fantastic and growing business and where the Planisto platform is highly regarded amongst the professional travel community.
“The acquisition aligns perfectly with our growth strategy as we accelerate towards being a £1bn+ transaction value platform in the very near future. We are continuing to invest in our highly scalable proprietary technology and operating model, and we continue to look forward to the future with excitement and confidence.”
Byrne will be speaking about his strategic choices in a keynote address to the first Rainmakers conference on 20 March 2024 at The Point conferencing centre at Emirates Old Trafford.
As well as acquiring the Planisto platform and associated IP, the deal sees the creators behind the platform also joining Travel Counsellors.
The deal marks Travel Counsellors’ second acquisition under the ownership of Vitruvian Partners following the successful deal to acquire of Birmingham-based Holidaysplease in March 2023.
The Acquisition also builds on the company’s growth and strategic progress over recent periods highlighted by its record financial performance during the financial year ended 31 October 2023, when the company delivered annual bookings of £933m, an increase of 23% on the prior year.
