Traveloka
Indonesian online travel platform
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Traveloka is an online travel platform established in 2012 in Jakarta, Indonesia,[6] and headquartered in Singapore.[7] It operates in multiple countries,[4] including Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines,[8] Vietnam,[9] Australia,[10] and Japan.[4] Since its founding, the company has raised capital from various investors, including East Ventures,[11] Global Founders Capital,[6] GIC, the Qatar Investment Authority,[12] and Expedia.[13]
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry |
|
| Founded | February 2012 in Jakarta, Indonesia[1] |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | |
Areas served | [3][4] |
Key people |
|
| Products |
|
| Parent | Traveloka Holding Ltd[5] |
History
Founding (2012–2013)
Traveloka was founded[14] in February 2012[4][6] by three Indonesian software engineers: Ferry Unardi, Albert, and Derianto Kusuma,[15] who met while studying and working[16] in the United States.[17] Motivated by the travel difficulties that Unardi frequently experienced when visiting Indonesia, they developed a platform to simplify travel logistics.[15] Traveloka was initially launched as a travel metasearch site in September 2012,[11] with Unardi as CEO and Kusuma as chief technology officer (CTO).[18][19] The website became a full online travel agency[20] in 2013,[11] offering ticket reservations[21] and multiple payment methods.[21]
Expansion (2014–2019)
In 2014,[11] Traveloka introduced hotel bookings[22] and launched apps for iOS and Android.[11] By the end of the year, the platform reported ten million monthly visitors.[16] In 2015, the US analytics firm comScore ranked Traveloka as Indonesia's number-one flight search and booking service.[23] By 2016, the company had established offices in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines,[8] and Vietnam.[9] During this time, the platform added new features, including train tickets, food services,[22] and attraction bookings.[24]
By 2017, Traveloka offered 100,000 accommodations and partnerships with around 100 airlines.[24] New features such as online check-ins and airport transfer services were introduced.[11] In 2017, an investment round valued Traveloka at over US$1 billion, making it a unicorn company.[25] Kusuma resigned as CTO in 2018.[26] In December 2018, the company acquired three online travel agencies, all former subsidiaries of the Japanese Recruit Holdings—for $67 million.[27] By 2019, Traveloka was the largest online travel startup in Southeast Asia,[28] alongside Gojek, Bukalapak, and Tokopedia.[29] That year, a survey of 1,204 Indonesian millennials showed that 79% used Traveloka regularly.[18]
In 2019, the company opened a research & development center in Bangalore, India.[30] That year,[31] the company also moved into financial services, introducing a credit card in partnership with Bank Rakyat Indonesia[28] and Bank Mandiri[32] and launching its PayLater card.[28] Also in 2019, Traveloka[33] debuted Traveloka Xperience,[12][28] a platform for booking lifestyle activities, and a shariah-compliant health insurance program, alongside FWD Group,[34] as well as other features.[35] The company also began collaborating with government agencies and tourism boards, including the Singapore Tourism Board[36] and the Indonesian Tourism Ministry, to promote regional travel and tourism.[10]
COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022)
The coronavirus pandemic in 2020 led to a surge in refund and rescheduling requests as well as substantial reimbursements.[37] With flight bookings dropping to essentially zero due to travel restrictions,[38] in April 2020, Traveloka laid off 100 staff members,[37] and over the next half-year, refunded around 150,000 flight tickets equating to $100 million.[39] In response to the situation at large, the company introduced flexible booking options,[38] including its "Buy Now, Stay Later" option,[26] bundling flights with COVID-19 tests,[40] and expanding its "online experiences" with features such as cooking classes.[26] It also launched the Traveloka Clean Partners campaign to align with government health and safety measures[41] and facilitated[42] vaccination bookings for over 600,000 people.[38] Demand for travel accommodation was recovering by October 2020, according to Traveloka,[39] and by the end of the year, the company's travel business had returned to profitability.[43]
After reports in February 2021 that Traveloka was considering an SPAC merger in the United States,[44][45] the company halted discussions of an initial public offering with Bridgetown Holdings in September 2021.[46] In 2021, Fast Company named Traveloka one of its 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators[47] in the international category.[48] In January 2022, Traveloka was valued at $3 billion.[49][50] The company streamlined its operations in 2022, discontinuing pandemic-specific ventures such as Traveloka Mart and Traveloka Eats.[51][52]
Recent (2023-2025)
A 2023 PricewaterhouseCoopers study estimated that Traveloka had contributed USD$10 billion in Gross Value Added to Indonesia's economy between 2019 and 2022. That included $4.5 billion from tourism, or 2.7% of the sector's GDP.[53] In 2023, the company added a carbon offset option and a "sustainable tourism" filter to its app.[53] Traveloka partnered with Disney Cruise Line in 2024,[54] and by 2025, it had expanded operations into Australia[10] and Japan.[55] The app is regarded as functionally similar to Expedia.[12]
Funding
- In 2012,[11] Traveloka raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from East Ventures.[23]
- In 2013, Global Founders Capital invested in Traveloka.[6]
- In July 2017, Traveloka raised $350 million from Global Founders Capital, GIC, the Qatar Investment Authority,[12] and Expedia, which also became a minority investor.[13] Funds were earmarked for developing machine learning and artificial intelligence,[56] investments, and hiring more staff.[24]
- A funding round in 2020 was led by the Qatar Investment Authority.[57]
- In 2022, the company raised USD$300 million from a consortium of lenders. In April 2024, Bloomberg reported that Traveloka had used its own internal funds to repay the loan a year early.[58]
