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Goldman-Backed GoEuro Is Said to Be Valued at Up to $1 Billion

Goldman-Backed GoEuro Is Said to Be Valued at Up to $1 Billion

(Bloomberg) -- GoEuro, a Berlin travel-booking startup, raised $150 million from Kinnevik AB, Temasek Holdings Pte and Hillhouse Capital.

Goldman-Backed GoEuro Is Said to Be Valued at Up to $1 Billion

The investment values the company at between $900 million and $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. The company intends to use the money to add more journey options to its service, possibly do M&A, and to expand beyond Europe, Chief Executive Officer Naren Shaam said in an interview. He declined to comment on valuation.

Kinnevik principal owner Cristina Stenbeck, also a board member at Spotify Technology SA, will join GoEuro’s board as part of the round.

“GoEuro has the potential of reshaping the travel industry,” Kinnevik CEO Georgi Ganev said Tuesday in a phone interview. “Their business model and value proposition go much beyond Europe.”

GoEuro links flights with train and bus trips in Europe from about 800 transport operators in a single platform with the option to buy tickets, eliminating the need to visit multiple websites for a multi-segment journey. Shaam got the idea for the company after a trip through 14 European countries in 2010, when the Harvard Business School graduate realized the continent had great train and bus options, but that finding information on them was extremely difficult.

“When you step out of flights into ground transport, it’s very fragmented,” Shaam said. His goal is to create a global transport platform that makes booking of air and ground trips as smooth as ordering something on Amazon, he said.

GoEuro, which says it’s more than doubling sales each year, is looking to offer its services in regions outside Europe, and is open to buying companies to acquire new technology, the CEO said. Other investors in the company include Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, Atomico, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stefan Nicola in Berlin at snicola2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, Nate Lanxon, Kim Robert McLaughlin

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