Distribusion raises €6 million Series A from Northzone and Creandum

Berlin, 17 March 2016 – Distribusion Technologies, the leading distribution system for intercity and shuttle bus products, announces it has raised 6 million EUR funding from international investors Northzone and Creandum. Existing seed investors HR Ventures and Frühphasenfonds Brandenburg as well as industry-specific business angels complete the finance round.

Having increased its portfolio fivefold in the last 6 months, Distribusion now provides 2 million bookable rides of more than 60 bus operators in 25 countries. This makes the company the largest distribution platform for intercity bus rides.

The new funding will be used to accelerate the product and technology development and to ramp up the acquisition and integration of new bus operators and resellers. In addition, Distribusion will push market coverage across Europe and expand their business operations to the major intercity bus markets in South America and Southeast Asia. For this purpose, the teams in Berlin and Bonn will be tripled by the end of 2016.

Founder and CEO Julian Hauck explains: “Considering the high interest in this round, with Creandum and Northzone we are excited to win two of Europe’s most successful investors for our mission. With their support, we will be able to grow our team and to roll out our business on a global scale.”

Tim He, Principal at Northzone comments: “Distribusion is revolutionizing intercity bus travel. With its innovative technology and business model serving both bus operators and travel agents, the company in a strong position to take on the fragmented intercity bus market globally. I have been hugely impressed with what they have achieved to date, and I am delighted to be partnering with their ambitious management team.”

“It sounds like a cliche, but we at Creandum are all about backing the best entrepreneurs across Europe. We’re excited about Julian and Johannes’ vision, and what they’ve been able to accomplish – Distribusion is having a major positive impact on bus operators, resellers, and consumers,” says Sabina Wizander at Creandum.

Helmut Stiglbauer, Advisor at HR Ventures, the venture capital company of Hahn Air, says: “We are deeply impressed by the performance of Distribusion and how they captured the European market. The company is changing intercity bus distribution for the better and is setting new standards in the industry.”

With its new technology, Distribusion enables intercity and shuttle bus operators for the first time to connect to a wide-ranging worldwide reseller network of travel websites, OTAs, travel agencies mobility apps. In doing so, bus operators lower their partnership management costs and increase ticket sales at the same time. Meanwhile resellers benefit from getting extensive bus products through a single system.

Alongside the venture firms, travel industry experts Thomas Döring, Chris Hitchen, Richard Chen, Bo Mattsson and Marc Mogalle are participating as business angels in the investment round.

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About Distribusion:
Distribusion develops the leading global distribution system (GDS) for intercity bus and shuttle rides. The Berlin based travel tech startup connects travel resellers such as travel websites, OTAs, travel agencies and tour operators with intercity bus operators worldwide. Distribusion provides 2 million bookable rides of more than 60 bus operators covering 25 countries to online resellers with more than 10 million unique visitors per month and to 4.000 travel agencies worldwide. Bus operators benefit from a full booking solution including rides management, distribution, ticketing, payment, billing and encashment.

About Northzone:
Founded in 1996, Northzone is a technology investment partnership. To date, it has raised seven funds and invested in some 120 technology-enabled companies. The current portfolio includes companies such as Spotify, Trustpilot, Lesara, MarketInvoice and SpaceApe. Northzone has offices in London, Stockholm, Oslo and New York. For further information, visit www.northzone.com.

About Creandum:
Creandum is a leading European venture capital investor, focusing on innovative and fast-growing technology companies within consumer, software and hardware industries. The Creandum funds have over €400M under management and are advised by the Creandum Advisory companies with offices in Stockholm and Palo Alto. Creandum funds have over the last decade invested in more than 50 companies including Spotify, Tictail, iZettle, and Vivino. For more information, please visit www.creandum.com.

About HR Ventures:
HR Ventures (www.hrventures.de) is the venture capital company of the Hahn Air group based in Dreieich, near Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Founded in 2012, HR Ventures focuses on early-stage investment in cutting-edge and scalable technologies.

About BFB Frühphasenfonds Brandenburg GmbH: BFB Frühphasenfonds Brandenburg GmbH (Frühphasenfonds Brandenburg) invests in young, innovative companies in the state of Brandenburg, with the goal of strengthening these companies’ equity base in their early stages. The fund, which has €25 million in capital, was designed and built by the Investment Bank of Brandenburg (ILB) on behalf of the Ministry of Economy and European Affairs of the State of Brandenburg (MWE). The funding capital is provided by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (75%), the budgetary resources of the state of Brandenburg (20%) and by bmp Investment Management (5%). Bmp (www.bmp.com) is tasked with the management of the fund. The fund’s current portfolio includes a total of 24 companies from the state of Brandenburg. (www.fruehphasenfonds-brandenburg.de)

About bmp:
With a background of experience encompassing more than 120 investments in almost every technological segment, and more than 50 exits in the form of IPOs and trade sales, bmp Investment Management AG ranks among the most experienced venture capital investors in Germany. In addition to the BFB Frühphasenfonds Brandenburg, bmp Investment Management AG also manages the market-listed bmp Media Investors AG (ISIN DE0003304200).
(www.bmp.com)