Travel Intelligence Secures Investment from Saints Capital

Travel Intelligence Secures Investment from Saints Capital

Ariadne Capital Advises London-based Travel Entrepreneurs

Today Travel Intelligence (TI) (www.travelintelligence.net) announced that early investors sold a 40% stake in the company to Saints Capital, a leading secondary direct investment firm. Saints also injected additional capital into TI for future growth and acquisitions. TI is the latest venture from online travel entrepreneur Marin Muyser and his business partner, Mike Lockwood.

TI offers the travel lover the best professional hotel and destination reviews and articles contributed by 120 selected travel writers, and the ability to book selected boutique and luxury hotels at the moment of inspiration. TI’s subsidiary Starfish Luxury Travel Distribution (Starfish) also powers and enables better monetisation of leading travel content sites including: HipHotels.com; Times Online; Travel Supermarket, HG2.com, mrandmrssmith.com, instylehotels.com, Silverjet.com, urbanpath.com and over 100 others.

Muyser says, “We believe that Travel Intelligence is uniquely positioned to provide a compelling travel solution to the five star traveller. This investment will enable us to add significant features and capabilities to our customers as well as to consolidate luxury/boutique travel product. We will continue to provide luxury/boutique travel suppliers with a viable alternative distribution network and deliver the most outstanding experience a luxury travel lover can have on the web.”

“We were impressed with the progress Marin and Mike have made with Travel Intelligence, their deep industry relationships with leading boutique hotels and the company’s position in a highly fragmented luxury travel industry,” Commented Ken Sawyer, managing director of Saints. “We view this as a strategic investment in a promising company and intend to play a positive supporting for the company’s growth moving forward.”

Saints Capital focuses on secondary investments in and the management of portfolios of venture and private equity backed companies. Saints’ direct secondary activities assist sellers such as endowments, pension funds, founders, hedge funds, mutual funds, insurance companies, banks, and corporate sellers who are seeking to obtain immediate liquidity or to minimize future investment requirements in private equity.

Lockwood adds, “Of all the potential investors we spoke with, Saints Capital best understood the business potential of Travel Intelligence, and articulated their ability to approach the transaction with a vision that was cooperative and focused on the company’s long term stability” Ariadne Capital, a London-based investment advisory firm, advised TI on the transaction.

In addition to Marin Muyser and Mike Lockwood, Ken Sawyer from Saints Capital, Brian Barth former CEO of Sidestep.com and Niko VonHuetz from Add Partners will be joining the TI board.

Notes to editors

History of Travel Intelligence

Marin Muyser was one of the founders of booking.com (now part of priceline.com). In early 2004, he was looking for a vehicle to move from a commodity-style hotel bookings system into the selective hotel bookings niche where customers could interact with a range of boutique, designer and luxury hotels.

Marin and Mike Lockwood, a veteran of Deloitte corporate finance, bought into Travel Intelligence in March 2004 and have, whilst developing the Starfish system, grown the company 10-fold over the last 3 years.

Travelintelligence.com was founded by AA Gill and James Dunford Wood in 1999 and launched in 2000.

For further information, please contact:

Julie Meyer, Ariadne Capital on +44 207 653 0236 or julie {at} ariadnecapital(.)com

Note for Editors:

Saints Capital – http://www.saintsvc.com/

Saints Capital (www.saintsvc.com) is a leading, global direct secondary investor focused on acquiring venture capital and private equity investments, as well as making traditional direct private equity investments on a primary basis and in special situations across the technology, healthcare, consumer and industrial sectors. Headquartered in San Francisco, with investment professionals in Europe and Asia, Saints has over 100 investments around the globe and includes such internet investments as The Motley Fool, Internet Brands, Business.com, Sidestep and several others.

Ariadne Capital – www.ariadnecapital.com

Ariadne Capital is an Investment and Advisory Firm, based in London, UK founded by Julie Meyer in 2000 along with 42 other founding Investors including the founders of AlphaMosaic, BetFair, Giga, Hotmail, Safetynet, SES Astra, Systinet, WorldPay and others.

Ariadne invests in and advises European high-growth companies who are “game-changers” in the Digital Media, Communications and Life Services sectors.