The Google of Ground Travel Wanderu prepares to launch native apps
Metamorphic Ventures leads investment as Wanderu continues rapid expansion throughout North America and prepares to launch native apps.
Wanderu , a Boston-based travel search engine, providing the simplest way to find and book bus and train travel, raised $5.6 million in a Series A round of financing late last year. Metamorphic Ventures led the over-subscribed investment round with participation from existing and new investors, including Alta Ventures, Craig Lentzsch (former CEO of Greyhound), 500 Startups, Barbara Corcoran Venture Partners, John Balen and Brad Feld, among others.
Wanderu plans to leverage the new round of funding to continue its expansion throughout North America, adding more destinations and carriers to its already impressive roster of partnerships, launch mobile apps, and roll-out new solutions to further improve the overall travel experience.
“Wanderu is filling a big overlooked space in the travel industry where the customers are predominantly Millennials,” said Marc Michel, Managing Partner at Metamorphic Ventures. “With a strong and dynamic team working hard to create technology in an industry sorely behind in that department, Wanderu is making it easy for consumers to book bus and train travel while driving strong volumes for its partners. I believe that, over the long term, Wanderu will become the go-to travel brand for Millennials.”
The Series A financing builds on an exceptional year for Wanderu during which the company expanded its coverage to over 70% of the US, helping millions of people find the best bus and train travel options at the best price. Since its seed round, Wanderu has established partnerships with all of the largest ground travel providers in North America, including Greyhound, Megabus, Boltbus, Peter Pan Bus, Grupo Senda and New York Trailways and has seen a steady sales growth of over 400% quarter over quarter.
“We founded the company with the goal of making travel more efficient and less stressful,” said Polina Raygorodskaya, CEO of Wanderu. “In addition to delivering the most comprehensive assortment of bus and train travel options available online, Wanderu allows users to mix and match offers from multiple providers, paving the way to destinations they could never reach before with just one carrier. In fact, almost 20% of the bookings on our site are for trips that people wouldn’t be able to do without Wanderu.”
Determined to be the travel search for the next generation, the Wanderu team will continue to add new features and partners to help Millennials travel the way they want around the country and beyond.
ABOUT WANDERU
Wanderu’s ground travel search engine provides the simplest way to find and book bus and train travel. Available throughout North America, Wanderu helps consumers discover travel options all over the U.S. and Canada. Accessible through any device (mobile or desktop), Wanderu gives users the freedom to narrow down searches by any address, city or point of interest and discover the stations closest to them. The platform recognizes any language and has registered searches from nearly every country in the world.