Travala has released its fourth monthly report for 2019, publishing progress in several core growth metrics the team has been highlighting since the beginning of the year. Additionally, the project added a new CFO to the team, made progress on its Q2 roadmap, and successfully closed an equity crowdfunding campaign.

Travala was conceived in late 2017 as a self-proclaimed Next-gen Online Travel Agency (NOTA). Its business plan claims that Travala “fundamentally changes the relationship between this consumer of the future and their travel shopping.” It does this by combining blockchain technology with familiar travel booking functionality to enable new tokenized incentive structures, loyalty programs, and booking discounts.

Today, Travala is a functional travel platform offering users 1,500,000 listings across 210 countries with various payment integrations, intended to empower users to spend cryptocurrencies.

Crowdfunding Campaign Progress and Platform Growth

As part of a Series A funding round, Travala launched its equity crowdfunding campaign in early March on UK crowdfunding platform, Crowdcube. Travala aimed to raise £250,000 from the public in exchange for equity ownership in the company. Within 16 days of launch, Travala had achieved 114% (£285,000) of its funding goal from 275 investors. The campaign is concluding on May 1st, with £407,820 (162%) garnered from 513 investors at time of writing.

Regarding month-over-month platform growth, Travala reported a 39% increase in room nights booked, 22% increase in number of bookings, and a 52.49% increase in the number of website visitors. The table below displays Travala’s reported month-over-month growth since December, 2018:

The top destinations booked in April were Thailand, USA, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, South Korea, Netherlands, and India.

As part of its Q2 roadmap, Travala also reported implementation of its ‘Booking Giveback program’ which rewards users with 2% of their booking value in AVA, a technical update which aims to “get cryptocurrency into the hands of many.”

Newly Appointed Chief Financial Officer

Travala welcomed Drew Currah, a CFA charter-holder with ten years of international work experience, as its CFO. Currah has a Bachelors of Commerce (finance major) from the University of Alberta and a history of developing online marketplaces, including his own peer-to-peer services startup for which it is claimed he acquired “thousands of users across Canada.”

On the appointment, Currah is quoted as saying: “It gives me great pleasure to take on this role at such an exciting time in Travala.com’s journey. I am really looking forward to working with the management team to help Travala.com achieve its financial and strategic objectives.”

The full April report and CFO coverage can be found at the links below:
https://blog.travala.com/travala-monthly-report-april-2019/
https://blog.travala.com/drew-currah-appointed-as-cfo-at-travala-com/

Written by Josh Shepard

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