Manchester-based VC Praetura Ventures is among the £6m latest backers of a new rail ticketing app that has just recorded 12 months of record growth.
Praetura joins Pembroke and Octopus Ventures in the latest funding round for Seatfrog, which will allow the travel app to launch a new recruitment drive and meet demands from operators across Europe as it bids to become the preeminent pan-European choice for rail.
Seatfrog is “on a mission to reinvent the experience of catching a train” for millions of European passengers and the operators that carry them. Launched in 2018 to initially combat the 570+ million first-class seats that travel empty each year, Seatfrog now helps over one million customers to get the best journey for their money.
Seatfrog has already saved consumers more than £43m across 3,400+ destinations with its technology that helps operators run more profitable networks, increasing new revenue by over 300 per cent. To date, it has secured exclusive partnerships with sixteen major train operators covering over 3bn journeys across the UK and Europe, with Italian operator Trenitalia the latest to put its faith in Seatfrog to deliver a better journey for its 500 million passengers.
Co-founder and CEO of Seatfrog, Iain Griffin said: “Our mission is to be the platform of choice for rail, helping people fall in love with taking the train again, and enabling operators to run more profitable networks full of happier, less stressed passengers – it’s long overdue.
Warming to the theme of rail-related puns, Griffin continued: “Today’s investment marks the latest milestone on our journey but it’s by no means our final destination. With the launch of our Train Swap feature across the UK and our expansion into new European markets, we are unleashing a new platform that helps passengers get an unrivalled experience and operators run more efficient networks well beyond the capabilities of legacy technology.”
Seatfrog has achieved remarkable organic growth since its launch, and is currently seeing more than 70 per cent of new customers coming from word of mouth, leading to a 40 per cent+ monthly revenue growth rate.
David Foreman, managing partner of Praetura Ventures said: “Many of our team used Seatfrog long before we spoke to them about this investment. As fans ourselves, we can see that the Seatfrog proposition is clearly loved by its users as shown by their thousands of industry-leading reviews. They’ve got a fantastic team with a great product and global potential. We’re incredibly excited to be backing Iain and Dirk in their next stage of growth with our ‘more than money’ support.”
The Seatfrog app is available to download on both Apple and Android devices.
