On October 16, Germany-based Lanes & Planes, a prominent European business travel SaaS platform, announced a €33 million Series B fundraising round. U.S.-based Smash Capital led the round. Battery Ventures, Coparion, DN Capital, and AllIron also invested.
Munich-based firm provides unique corporate travel solutions while concentrating on development and efficiency. With Series B funding, the company will develop and improve its creative corporate travel solutions throughout rising business travel.
“We constantly get feedback, especially from our new customers, on how Lanes & Planes has made them more efficient in terms of money saved and time saved by making internal administrative tasks less painful and smoother,” says CTO and co-founder Daniel Nolte.
“We have built a compelling product that has resulted in incredible customer loyalty, and now we are in an excellent position to scale rapidly and efficiently in the European corporate travel market,” Nolte says.
Streamlining company travel
Lanes & Planes offers all-inclusive corporate travel. Travel booking, approvals, and cost management are handled in an easy-to-use digital platform that integrates with all corporate systems.
An in-house support team in Germany is accessible 24/7 to handle user concerns, difficulties, and emergencies. Since 2022, the firm has grown sales, making it a European corporate travel leader.
“Spending on business travel will top pre-pandemic levels in 2024, but the actual management and booking of business travel remain dysfunctional and inefficient,” says Smash Capital managing partner Bradley Twohig.
Lanes & Planes has created a simple, open, and intelligent approach to scheduling and managing business travel to simplify client lives. Twohig says we invested in Lanes & Planes without hesitation and are thrilled to help them grow.
We are happy to have Smash Capital as a strategic partner. Lanes & Planes CEO Veit Blumschein says the firm’s track record backing tech-market leaders and laser-focused growth attitude match our mission.
Business travel will continue.
Blumeschein says many businesses still need business travel despite the coronavirus pandemic’s video conferencing boom.
Blumeschein told Wirtschaftsforum that by 2023, business travel would be 95% as frequent as before the epidemic. His reason was that many duties could not be done remotely.
Many white-collar workers will continue to travel for work in the future since the human aspect cannot be considered digitally. Blumeschein adds that many remote-work organizations are now organizing on-site retreats and courses, which is why group travels are rising.
Lanes & Planes strategically collaborated with German IT and consulting firm All for One Group last June. Medium-sized clients may adopt customized travel and receipt management solutions through the cooperation. Medium-sized organizations with complicated IT infrastructures and SAP system landscapes need this.
“We have been using the Lanes & Planes solution since 2022 and are very convinced of this digital end-to-end approach from travel planning to billing,” says All for One Group CFO Stefan Land.
An equity investment in a promising new firm and a strategic partnership are crucial steps in our evolution into a comprehensive digitalization partner for medium-sized organizations. Land said the market is large and will digitize soon.
