TripActions lands $500m credit facility from SVB, Goldman and Comerica

Written by Ruby Hinchliffe
26th February 2020

TripActions, the Palo Alto-based travel management unicorn, has raised a $500 million debt facility to fund its new product line which includes ‘TripActions Liquid’ – a service that promises real-time travel payment reporting.

Offering an alternative to company cards, TripActions Liquid floats an employees’ travel spend so their personal cards are not burdened with the expenditure. Using a TripActions-issued Visa card – which can be physical or virtual – employees can see their expenses reported in real-time without the need to file bundles of receipts on their return.

With this business model comes the need for a lot of money, hence the $500 million debt facility which will act as a short-term credit line whilst the travel tech start-up grows its assets. The money comes from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Goldman Sachs and Comerica Bank, pointing to the wide and substantial appeal held for its products by the big players.

Existing customers of TripActions include Zoom, Lyft and Letgo

“Organisations have sacrificed for too long with inferior corporate travel management platforms — from clunky booking tools to poor service, out-of-control costs and complicated travel payments processes,” says co-founder and CEO Ariel Cohen, who says TripActions is “revolutionising travel payments”.

With existing customers such as Zoom, Lyft and Letgo, and equipped with a valuation from last year of $4 billion, the travel tech is in prime position to accelerate the adoption of its new product. To date, it has $480 million in the bank from investors, alongside its $500 million debt facility, so it won’t be short of money to drive its product expansion.

“Everyone who touches accounting knows that travel payment reconciliation is an issue, but it was always one of those ‘necessary evils’ you had to deal with,” says Zoom’s corporate controller Vik Shah. “TripActions Liquid is a major time saver — we’ve been able to reduce travel payment reconciliation time from weeks to minutes each month.”

Founded in 2015, TripActions’ first product was an Expedia-style travel-booking portal, designed so employees could book their own flights and hotel rooms.