TripStax has announced the acquisition of online booking platform TapTrip.
TapTrip co-founders Tom Young and Jack Timblin are joining TripStax in senior management and development roles. All other existing TapTrip staff are also joining the TripStax business.
Neil Ruth, also one of TapTrip’s founders, took an earlier exit in March and has since joined digital development company xDesign.
Both TripStax and TapTrip have a connection with travel management company ATPI.
ATPI invested $1.4 million in TapTrip in March 2020 and the TripStax technology was developed by ATPI’s in-house IT team before being spun off as a separate entity earlier this year.
Under the deal announced this week, TripStax is acquiring TapTrip from its multiple shareholders, which also include Barclays, Techstars, and Founders Factory.
The ATPI Group, as an investor in TripStax, will retain a financial interest through the acquisition and ATPI, as a TMC customer of TripStax, can use TapTrip as one of the modules within its tech stack.
A spokeswoman said further details of how the acquisition is being funded or structured are confidential.
TapTrip will become an additional module within the TripStax offering, complementing the existing applications used by TMCs post-booking (Analytics, Approve, Content, Docs, Mobile, Portal, Profile, Track).
Jack Ramsey, CEO TripStax, who previously worked at ATPI, said: “Our vision for TripStax from the outset has been to continue enhancing and developing our tech proposition, both organically and by acquisition.
“We are excited to bring TapTrip on board as part of that journey and be able to offer our TMC clients an innovative online booking solution designed to suit the needs of their SME clients.
“The acquisition is also a great fit for TripStax’s business culturally because like TapTrip, we are aiming to bring a fresh, disruptive approach to the business travel landscape.
“We are also delighted to welcome Tom, Jack and TapTrip’s staff to our business as their skillset will help us scale up our tech innovation and growth.”
Last autumn TapTrip launched Vessul, a platform to help meet the online booking needs of group and crew travel predominantly in the marine and energy sectors.
TripStax will continue to develop the Vessul platform as a niche proposition for ATPI exclusively, but it will not form part of its main tech stack from a commercial perspective.
