SAN CARLOS, Calif .– (COMMERCIAL THREAD) – JetBlue Technology Ventures (JTV), the venture capital arm of JetBlue Airways (Nasdaq: JBLU), today announced its investment in Transparent, the vacation rental market information company, bringing the company’s total funding to $ 2.8 million to date. The investment will allow Transparent to continue to expand its sales team.
The funding aligns with JTV’s investment theme of âreinventing the hosting experienceâ and expands to support the subsidiary’s broader goal of positioning JetBlue with startup-led innovation. In recent years, the airline has grown to become a full-fledged travel brand.
Transparent builds and maintains a platform that aggregates data on vacation rental market conditions, including prices, occupancy and competition. The startup was founded in 2016 by travel entrepreneurs Pierre Becerril, Nil Sanz and Drew Patterson with a mission to help property managers, property investors, online travel agencies and tourism boards make informed decisions. within the vacation rental space. Since then, the company has aggregated millions of anonymized bookings and indexed over 36 million listings worldwide to help thousands of users understand the rental industry.
âGiven JetBlue’s interest in providing short-term rental options to its customers and the recent volatility in demand from the travel industry, accurate data is imperative to making sound business decisions. Our investment in Transparent not only provides us with valuable insight into the short-term rental market, but also a partnership with one of the leading startups in the vacation rental industry, âsaid Ryan Chou, Investment Partner at JetBlue Technology Ventures.
Transparent estimates that the rental industry will generate $ 75 billion in gross reservation value in 2021. The company has built the authoritative intelligence platform for industry market players, enabling them to analyze rates and l occupancy prospects, understand the drivers of demand, monitor competitors and analyze the origins and patterns of travelers. Customers and partners include Amadeus, Booking.com, Four Seasons, Marriott, Hopper, the Hawaii Tourism Board, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, and hundreds of other institutions around the world.
â1 in 3 bed available to travelers to the United States is accommodated in a vacation rental as opposed to a traditional hotel. As travelers’ appetite for this type of accommodation increases, there is a need for business intelligence tools to help market participants make informed decisions on pricing, investments and strategy. During COVID-19, 25% of bookings were at short-term rentals, accelerating a long-term shift towards this form of accommodation. JTV’s interest in our business is a reaffirmation of the vacation rental industry that has emerged from the shadows of the hotel industry to emerge as a major player in the travel and hospitality ecosystem in its own right. », Declared Pierre Becerril, co-founder of Transparent and CEO.
Prior to JTV, Transparent had previously raised funds from Madrid-based K Fund, New York-based Highgate Ventures, and Paris-based Kima Ventures.
About JetBlue Technology Ventures
JetBlue Technology Ventures invests and partners with innovative early stage startups in the travel, transportation and hospitality industries. The company prioritizes investments that move the customer-centric journey forward in a transparent manner; the accommodation experience; next-generation aviation operations and business technology; distribution, retention and management of revenues; and sustainable travel. Founded in 2016, JetBlue Technology Ventures is a wholly owned subsidiary of JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) and is located in Silicon Valley, California. For more information visit www.JetBlueVentures.com.
About Transparent
Transparent is the world leader in market intelligence for the short-term rental industry. Through a combination of proprietary data aggregation, data science, and publicly available data aggregation, Transparent develops insights into market conditions, such as supply growth, demand patterns, price changes and the activities of property managers. These data power products enable hosts and property managers, distributors and OTAs, hotels and other accommodation providers, local government agencies and investors to make smarter, fact-based decisions in the industry. short-term rental. www.seetransparent.com.