A rare Scottish unicorn sighting: Skyscanner raises $192 million at a $1.6 billion valuation

From Tech.eu:

Edinburgh, Scotland-based travel metasearch website Skyscanner has raised $192 million at a $1.6 billion valuation. FT has the scoop.

The investors are Artemis, Baillie Gifford, Khazanah Nasional Berhad (the investment arm of the Malaysian government), Vitruvian Partners and Yahoo! Japan.

Reuters reports that the funds raised include both primary and secondary proceeds, according to Skyscanner, which did not disclose the size of the stake the investors have acquired.

Skyscanner was founded in 2003 by current CEO Gareth Williams and two friends.

In October 2013, Sequoia Capital valued the company at $800 million in a secondary investment, with the VC firm’s chairman Michael Moritz joining the company’s board to boot.

In 2014, the company launched ‘Skyscanner for Business’ to deliver data-led tools to the travel industry, which helped increase revenues that year by 42% to £93 million (roughly $139 million), with EBITDA of £20 million (approx. $30 million). Its 2015 earnings have not (yet) been disclosed.

Skyscanner recently hired Bryan Dove, previously Director of Engineering at Amazon’s S3 and Skype, to lead its global engineering teams as Senior Vice President of Engineering.

Skyscanner currently has offices in Barcelona, Beijing, Budapest, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Miami, Shenzhen, Singapore and Sofia. It currently employs over 700 people.

Also read:

Skyscanner opens three new offices, nabs former Amazon exec to head up global engineering

Meet Skyscanner: the fast-growing European tech unicorn that should be on everyone’s radar

19 European travel startups that can help plan your next trip