Revolutionary rail ticketing app Seatfrog has secured an £6m funding round to deliver the next stage of its expansion plan after 12 months of record growth. Backed by leading investors Pembroke, Praetura and Octopus Ventures, and advised by finnCap’s Private Growth Capital team, the latest funding round will allow the travel innovator to embark on a new recruitment drive and meet the demands from operators across Europe, accelerating the next wave of its platform 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 has become the go-to choice for over one million passengers to get the best journey for their money.
Seatfrog has already saved consumers more than £43m across 3,400+ destinations with its smarter technology that helps operators run more profitable networks, increasing new revenue by over 300%. 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 commented:
“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.
“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% of new customers coming from word of mouth, leading to a 40%+ monthly revenue growth rate.
Fred Ursell, Investment Director, Pembroke Investment Managers LLP added:
“Over half of UK rail passengers are unhappy with value for money, largely due to the European rail sector being starved of innovation. When we met Iain and Dirk, their vision and passion to transform the customer experience for travellers whilst providing a ‘win-win’ business model for Train Operators became immediately clear. The disruptive business model, product market fit and large market combined with a world-class team, meant Seatfrog had all the hallmarks of a Pembroke deal. We are delighted to be supporting Seatfrog as it expands its product range, deepens relationships with customers and grows its geographical presence.”
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.
