Swiipr has raised £6 million.
The travel paytech company, which aims to transform the airline industry's disrupted payments system, has raised a Series A round of funding led by Octopus Ventures with support from TX Ventures and Solano Partners. The new capital will support the company as it seeks to drive growth, especially in areas such as research and development, artificial intelligence, data analytics and strategy.
“Thanks to Octopus, our Series A funding will enable us to further strengthen our solution and accelerate our growth, helping us achieve our vision of eliminating friction points in compensation wherever they exist,” Ian Clowes, co-founder and chairman of Swiipr, said in a blog post published by the company.
Launched in 2020, Swiipr aims to help airlines digitize flight disruption payments to improve passenger experience and drive cost efficiency. Swiipr is used by 26 airlines across 70 countries.
The company's integrated digital platform includes virtual and physical prepaid rewards cards and a mobile app, providing airlines with the tools to reduce friction for themselves and their passengers.
“Traditional compensation systems are not fit for purpose and are costing airlines billions of dollars each year while also exacerbating confusion and stress,” said Tara Spielhagen, co-founder and CEO of Swiipr. “In the digital age, this is no longer necessary and we are proud to have developed a new solution that solves many pain points and is already benefiting our airline partners and their customers.”
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On the passenger side, Swiipr's Swiipr Compensation Card allows airlines to pay compensation to passengers during disruptions such as denied boarding or lost baggage, while the Swiipr Welfare Card allows airlines to pay instant meal and drink compensation for delayed flights.
Benefits for airlines include reduced fraud and processing times, increased customer loyalty and improved consumer retail insights. Airlines can also deploy branded card products for business use by staff and crew.
“We are impressed with Swiipr's solution as it fundamentally transforms rewards payments, bringing the scale and efficiency of modern payments to the aviation industry while significantly improving the travel experience for customers,” said Tosin Agbabiaka, Principal at Octopus Ventures.
Agbabiaka continued: “Swiipr's founders have the deep expertise in both the payments and travel industries required to tackle airline rewards challenges. This complementary skillset, and the effectiveness of its solution, has enabled Swipr to gain strong support from major global airlines already in the early stages of development.”
