Travala, a service that lets users pay for hotel reservations with digital currencies, is set to close its latest equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube with nearly £1.1 million raised. The funding round, which originally sought to raise £500,000, has attracted more than 800 Crowdcube investors.
As previously reported, Travala claims it has become the world’s leading blockchain-based traveling booking platform that is trusted by thousands of customers worldwide. The platform currently offers over 2,000,000 hotels and accommodation covering 90,124 destinations in 230 countries and territories.
“Travala.com’s vision is to align travel booking with the ethos of decentralised technology. That being, promote accessibility to anyone, anywhere, offer censorship resistant and peer-to-peer transactions, and build open-source technology controlled by software and governed by users. We aim to be 15% cheaper than the rest of the market, travellers can use 21 different cryptocurrencies in addition to credit/debit cards to pay for accommodation bookings on the website, whilst having the option of earning real-world valued rewards with every booking.”
Since its launch, Travala noted that it has established partnerships (Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia, etc.) and has built out the platform to offer what it claims to be a world-class booking experience by any standard.
“Our efforts are paying off. Despite the global downturn in travel bookings, Travala.com has seen quarter-over-quarter room night growth exceeding 200% (5,800 room nights were booked in Q3 as of Sep 15 compared to 1,900 in Q2).”
The company recently announced its partnership with cryptocurrency platform BitPay to power its new Travel Gift Cards. According to Travala, Travel Gift Cards will be available to purchase using any of the 30+ cryptocurrencies supported on the company’s travel booking platform, in addition to credit and debit card options.
“Through BitPay, travellers can now convert up to twenty thousand dollars to a Travala.com Travel Gift Card when cryptocurrency market conditions are favorable and use it to book travel anytime in the future, with the Travel Gift Cards having no set expiry date.”
Travala is now offering 4.54% in equity at a £17,500,000 pre-money valuation. The funding round is set to close next Friday.
Have a crowdfunding offering you'd like to share? Submit an offering for consideration using our Submit a Tip form and we may share it on our site!