ven though Kinnevik is Europe's largest publicly listed startup investor, it has only recently begun to take stakes in travel startups. What it looks for in companies tells a broader story of how investors generally view the sector.
Akhil Chainwala is one of the most thought-provoking investors you probably don’t know by name. Chainwala is a London-based investment director at Kinnevik, Europe’s largest publicly listed startup investor. Kinnevik has stakes in travel startups TravelPerk and Omio.
Chainwala has kept a relatively low profile, despite having some thought-provoking views on how to disrupt travel technology giants such as Amadeus — and how to build world-class travel startups.
Kinnevik (pronounced shin-eh-veek by Swedes and shin-uh-vik by Brits) has $6.9 billion in assets invested in about 30 startups across industries.
Four years ago, the Swedish investment group began to reshape its consumer services portfolio, broadening out from inventory-based e-commerce for products like fashion and furniture and listings-based marketplaces, such as for apartment rentals. As consumers began valuing experiences over material possessions, the group examined travel, among other experiential sectors.
Kinnevik invested in two travel startups: TravelPerk, a travel management software provider, and Omio, a consumer search platform for booking transportation. Late last year, TravelPerk raised $115 million in a Series D round, of which Kinnevik contributed $25 million. As of March 31, Kinnevik owned a 15 percent stake in TravelPerk worth $170 million and a 5 percent stake in Omio worth about $42 million.
“Since the pandemic hit, we’ve participated in — depending on how you count it — four to five funding rounds across those two companies,” Chainwala said. “That very much vibes with our long-term orientation. We invested from our balance sheet in these companies even when the pandemic made them temporarily unprofitable.”
In late April, Kinnevik led a $35 million investment round in SafetyWing — a Norwegian company offering digital nomads health insurance.
Might Kinnevik make one or two more investments in travel over the next couple of years?
“Directionally, that’s probably the right way to think about it,” Chainwala said. But he noted he couldn’t be “proscriptive” about whether the very selective group will find travel-sector businesses that meet the group’s criteria.