Travel business to exploit growth opportunities with six-figure investment
West Yorkshire-based utc.travel is expanding with investment from Finance Yorkshire’s growth fund.
Founded in 2021 by a team of travel professionals, utc.travel is a subscription-based travel club.
Members benefit from access to trade prices for hotels, holidays, attractions, transfers and car hire, saving up to 40% compared to other online operators.
A £275,000 investment from Finance Yorkshire’s growth fund is supporting the business to invest in its online platform and create additional jobs at its customer service centre.
Heading up utc.travel is chairman Stephen Knight and CEO Brett Norton.
The firm’s target market is businesses and organisations which can offer club membership as an employee benefit.
The company has established corporate partnerships with John Lewis, British Chamber of Commerce and DHL, as well as deals with other membership organisations.
Knight said: “Our subscription membership model enables customers to book everything in one place with more flexibility, greater discounts with full customer service.”
Finance Yorkshire’s investment will enable utc.travel to employ more people at its Leeds-based customer service centre which is staffed by travel and hospitality experts.
The investment is also supporting the company to enhance its platform. It is adding a multiple destination tool which will enable members to build their own itineraries on the site as well as an AI chatbot to field travel-related questions from users.
Knight added: “We value Finance Yorkshire’s partnership approach in that the investment comes with advice and expertise from its fund management team.”
Alex McWhirter, CEO of Finance Yorkshire, said: “Stephen and Brett have brought together a team of seasoned travel professionals to deliver an attractive proposition to consumers particularly via the employee benefit market.
“Our investment will support utc.travel’s growth ambitions at a time when today’s keen travellers are seeking the best deals.”
Finance Yorkshire’s growth fund is part of a wider regional business fund which is expected to provide more than £50m to SMEs over five years.
Investment is also available from its seedcorn and business loans funds.
