Skyscanner, the global travel search engine, today announced five new partners including Malaysias investment arm Khazanah, who between them will invest £128 million (RM844 million) in the company. This includes both primary and secondary proceeds and sees the incoming investors acquire an undisclosed share of Skyscanner.

The primary investment in Skyscanner will support the company’s strategy and accelerate its rapid growth in the £332 billion (RM2200 billion) online travel market.

In addition, it expands Skyscanner’s access to additional sources of expertise and different virtual and geographic marketplaces around the world. The investors are Artemis, Baillie Gifford, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Vitruvian Partners and Yahoo! JAPAN now join SEP and Sequoia as the company’s investment partners:

Gareth Williams, Skyscanner CEO, said: “Skyscanner has enjoyed high double-digit growth rates for some years now, and has been profitable since 2009. This success is thanks to our 1,200 direct partner relationships, the trust of the 50 million travellers who use us every month, our technology and the dedication of our teams to deliver the best experience for travellers possible. This financing round and our recent new hires allow us to build fantastic further tools for travellers. I’d like to thank SEP and Sequoia for their belief in us and also welcome our new investors to the team. We have so much more to do together – it’s an exciting time.” 

About Skyscanner

• Skyscanner is a leading global travel search company providing free search of flights, hotels and car hire around the world.
• Founded in 2003 Skyscanner helps over 50 million people each month to find their travel options.
• Skyscanner is available in 30 languages.
• Skyscanner’s highly-rated free mobile apps have been downloaded over 40 million times.
• The privately-owned company employs over 700 staff and has ten global offices in Barcelona, Beijing, Budapest, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Miami, Shenzhen, Singapore and Sofia.

The travel app had a luncheon organised in Malaysia last year, announcing marketing strategies being put in place for this region.

As for discounts since its partially Malaysian owned, we checked with Khazanah and they have yet to response to our emails.