Goldman Sachs leads $45m investment in travel website startup GoEuro
Goldman Sachs is among several investors to plough millions into a travel website which compares plane, train, bus and car rental across Europe.
The $45m (£30m) series B investment round for three-year-old Berlin-founded startup GoEuro was lead by the Goldman's Investment Partners arm, with further cash coming from venture capital firms and entrepreneurs.
That includes London headquartered Atomico, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and Ilkka Paananen of the gaming startup behind Clash of Clans, Supercell.
"GoEuro has made impressive progress in bringing the last untapped market within the travel industry into the 21st century," said Christopher Dawe, co-head of Goldman Sachs IP Private Investments.
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"With over 50k train and coach stations across Europe, yet no online solution to search and book travel in a similar manner to what already exists within the airline industry, we see a tremendous opportunity to fill the void by building the leading multi-modal travel platform.”
Other previous investors include Battery Ventures and Lakestar and (New Enterprise Associates) NEA.
The new cash will be spent on expanding GoEuro, which currently operates in 11 markets in Europe, including new partnerships, product development, hiring, and customer acquisition in Europe and globally.
"GoEuro today already reaches travellers from more than 120 countries, in 15 languages, and we’re making travelling in Europe easier than ever before – both inside countries and across borders," said GoEuro founder and chief executive Naren Shaam. "The support from Goldman Sachs and Atomico will enable us to focus even more on our vision of building the only tool you need to fully benefit from Europe’s excellent rail, bus and air travel infrastructure.”