Traveloka

Before founding Traveloka, Ferry Unardi was a student at Harvard Business School who hailed from Padang, a city in West Sumatra. Unardi regularly booked flights to travel between his hometown and the United States, but found the process complicated, time-consuming, and difficult to plan. Frustrated by these problems, he teamed up with a former colleague, Derianto Kusuma, as well as an old friend from school, Albert Zhang.[5] Unardi dropped out of school and in 2012, the following year, the trio established Traveloka with an initial cash investment by East Ventures.[3][6]

In 2013, they were joined by Ainun Najib, the initiator of election result watch site, KawalPemilu.org.[7] Traveloka also raised a fresh round of investments that year from Global Founders Capital.[8]

Traveloka started out as a flight search and comparison site, although it later expanded its range of products and services. In 2014, Traveloka started offering its users with the ability to book flight reservations atop hotel reservations.[9]

In 2017, train ticket bookings and food-related features were added to Traveloka.[9] At that time, it was claimed that Traveloka had begun raising funds to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities.[10] It was later announced in July 2017 that Traveloka had raised investments worth $350 million from Global Founders Capital, sovereign wealth fund GIC, and the Qatar Investment Authority.[3] Expedia also became a minority investor as part of the deal. Notably, Traveloka became a unicorn upon completion of the investment round.[11][12] At that time, Traveloka was already operating in six countries and expanding its reach in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.[13]

Traveloka acquired three online travel agencies in 2018, namely Pegipegi from Indonesia, Mytour from Vietnam, and Travelbook from the Philippines, for approximately $66.8 million.[14] The same year, a restaurant directory page, Traveloka Eats, was launched.

2018 also oversaw the resignation of Kusuma from his role as Traveloka's chief technology officer, citing a "clash of aspirations".[15]

By 2019, Traveloka started to expand its foothold beyond airline ticketing and hotel booking services, venturing into financial services for the first time.[9] In 2019, it started a credit card scheme with Bank Rakyat Indonesia.[16] and launched its Xperience sub-brand later that year, which lists around 15,000 activities in over 60 countries, spanning events, films, as well as specialty classes and workshops.[3][16] Other developments in 2019 included a research & development (R&D) center established in Bangalore,[17] tourist kiosks in Singapore,[18] a home protection insurance plan as well as visa insurance coverage in Indonesia. Traveloka also developed a shariah-compliant health insurance program called Bebas Handal for Muslim customers alongside Hong Kong-based FWD Group. In addition, Traveloka added a movie-booking feature through Major Cineplex[19] and began listing villas as well as apartments for bookings.[20]

In April 2020, Traveloka laid off a significant portion of its staff as the demand for travel dropped significantly amid the coronavirus pandemic. The move affected 100 employees, amounting to 10% of its workforce. Traveloka also experienced numerous requests for refunds and cancellations worth $100 million.[21]

Demand for travel gradually recovered in October 2020, when the volume of hotel bookings in Indonesia returned to 75 percent of pre-pandemic figures. A similar trend was also observed in Thailand and Vietnam, two other major markets where Traveloka actively operates in.[22] To help restore its cash flow, Traveloka kicked off its "Buy Now, Stay Later" campaign at this point, when users could pay for hotel vouchers and use them at a later date. Its Xperience sub-brand was also used to host online activities like cooking classes with professional chefs. Flash sale livestreams and live tours were also launched.[15]

As of 2021, reports emerged that Traveloka was considering a SPAC merger in the United States.[23] One of the blank check companies being considered was Bridgetown Holdings, although merger talks were later suspended.[24]