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We are proud to announce we've raised our first round of venture capital from two great firms out of Chicago.
We've secured $2.4 million in funding, led by Lightbank with participation from Corazon Capital. Bill Pescatello of Lightbank will join our board with Nina Essandoh joining as a board observer. We are beyond lucky to have both Bill and Nina join the AllFly team.
Moments like this are important to stop and reflect on progress.
AllFly's origin story can trace its way back to 2014, when CEO Eric Peterson began booking group contracts for other tour operators. What was true in 2014, is sadly still true today.
Far too much of group travel happens offline.
Planning and executing group travel is still terribly inefficient, complex, and often confusing.
Our goal from the very beginning has always been to make group travel easy and online.
The team at AllFly has made great strides in simplifying and streamlining the group and event travel space. We started off fairly narrow in focus and scope. For years, we zeroed in on booking airfare for mainly student groups. Over the last 3 years, we expanded our horizons as our customers asked for more capabilities and functionality.
We now proudly offer a suite of products designed to help tour operators, meeting planners, and businesses plan, book, and manage group travel. Essentially, whoever and however your organization decides to travel, we have a solution for you:
- AllFly Marketplace- shop, book, and manage group air contracts online (10+ tickets)
- AllFly Meetings- easily book airfare for your next corporate team meeting or offsite (individual tickets)
- Forecast- quickly estimate airfare for your next corporate meeting
The funds will be used to expand AllFly's product offerings in the corporate meetings and events space with an exciting slate of feature updates to drop this summer. We also plan on investing in AllFly Marketplace, as group travel is still core to our success.
New AllFly board member, Bill Pescatello of Lightbank, is bullish on backing the AllFly team. “At Lightbank, our focus is on identifying companies that have the potential to transform large underserved markets, and AllyFly is a great example. With its innovative approach, AllyFly has quickly become a go-to choice for group travel and corporate partners in this vast ecosystem.”
The corporate travel market presents an exciting opportunity, as COVID-19 has changed the way teams meet and work. AllFly has seen a significant uptick in corporate customer sign-ups during the first three months of 2023. We've seen great success partnering with meeting planners who's clients are in need of an air solution.
Partnering with meeting planners and event companies has been an important part of our growth story and will continue to be on the forefront of how we bring value to the group & event travel market.
On the groups side of the business, its been nice to see student travel finally bounce back. While its not at 2019 levels yet, its trending in that direction.
Our tour operator partners have been resilient in face of adversity. Many of the tour operators who survived COVID are coming back stronger than ever, and we can't wait to help support them in their bounce-back stories.
Stay tuned for some exciting announcements as the best is yet to come.
