Irish tech firm CarTrawler has agreed a deal to buy Paris-based travel Insurtech business Koala, widening its range of market-leading travel ancillary products.
Koala’s offers insurance products such as “Cancel For Any Reason”, trip disruption cover and more traditional travel insurance products across a network of over 70 partners in 17 countries.
Today’s acquisition marks CarTrawler’s strategic entry into the insurtech vertical and further expands its multi-product ancillary platform.
CarTrawler also today reported another strong year marked by a double-digit increase in booking volumes, further EBITDA growth and major new partnership wins.
The company creates and powers software that provides airline customers with access to car rental and mobility options in over 50,000 locations around the world.
Revenues for the year rose to €172m from €171m the same time the previous year, while EBITDA rose by 2% to €23.305m.
It noted that a 14% year-on-year increase in car booking volumes was driven by continued organic growth and a number of new commercial partnerships.
It secured major new partnerships during the past few months including deals with American Airlines, Qantas, Jet2, Virgin Australia and Finnair.
Its customers also include EasyJet, eDreams ODIGEO, Uber, United Airlines and American Express
Peter O’Donovan, chief executive of CarTrawler, said that FY24 was a year of continued progress for the company.
“We were delighted to welcome some of the leading brands in travel to our platform, as we convert a robust new partnership pipeline,” the CEO said.
“FY25 is on track to deliver record levels for our business, with further growth secured for 2026 and beyond through a number of significant additional new partnerships,” he added.
Mr O’Donovan said the demand for B2B travel ancillary solutions continues to increase, with the company’s travel partners asking it to add these solutions to its offering.
“The acquisition of Koala is a further step toward fulfilling our ambition of becoming the leading multi-product ancillary platform for the global travel industry. Koala’s product innovation and customer-centric approach makes them a natural fit. Together, we’ll unlock more value for travel partners and travellers alike,” he added.
