Travel tech firm Mobacar gets multimillion-euro investment
Global car rental brokerage Auto Europe and Delta Partners have made a multimillion-euro investment in Kerry-based Mobacar to create a global strategic partnership for airlines and online travel agencies.
The deal values the Killarney-headquartered company at €20m and will create 11 new high-end jobs in Kerry, including positions for data scientists, developers and business development professionals.
Mobacar’s existing 30-person team already includes six data scientists working on the world’s first intelligent car rental and ground transportation distribution platform for airlines and online travel agencies.
Founded in Kerry in 2013, Mobacar has more than 100 online travel companies using its solution today, including eight airlines, while Auto Europe has one of the world’s largest car rental brokerage businesses with more than 2.5m bookings per year and more than 600 people working across three service centres in Portland in Maine, Munich and Sydney.
“From Kerry, Mobacar has been at the forefront of the development of retail intelligence technology for the travel industry. Based on these innovations, AE and Mobacar see the huge potential in partnering Mobacar’s technology and AE’s global supply and unparalleled service”, said CEO Mike Webster, a former executive at Fexco.
Mobacar will use this investment to increase its staff numbers to accelerate its investment in its retail intelligence products, its technology and product team and its global sales team and bring its team in Kerry to 41 people by the end of the year.
