BGF exits investment in West Midlands-based Click Travel

By Nicky Godding

8 July 2021

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Based in Birmingham, Click Travel has been recognised as one of Britain’s high-growth tech companies.

BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor, has announced a successful exit of its investment in Click Travel, the West Midlands-based business travel management company. The business has been acquired by US-based global travel management platform, TravelPerk.

Click Travel, is one of the UK’s fastest growing travel management companies. Their online booking platform reduces the cost and complexity of booking travel for their 2,000 business clients, including Five Guys, Red Bull and Talk Talk.

BGF backed Click Travel with a multi-million-pound investment in 2018 to support the business in delivering its vision for the future of travel management.

TravelPerk is a next-generation business travel platform, pioneering the future for business travel worldwide. The acquisition will combine Click Travel’s UK market expertise and customer base with TravelPerk’s international inventory and innovative suite of products. The move establishes TravelPerk as the largest SMB-focused, tech driven travel management platform globally and the UK’s dominant corporate travel platform.

Gurinder Sunner, head of BGF in the Midlands, said: “BGF’s Birmingham team backed Click Travel in 2018 with a multi-million-pound investment to fast-track growth. During this time, the company has asserted its global leadership position as the biggest travel platform in the UK, handling over £300 million in business travel for over 2,000 SMB clients. We’re extremely proud to have supported the company at a period of rapid growth and wish the team all the best on the next exciting stage of their journey.”

All 150 staff will join the TravelPerk team, making Birmingham a new hub for the company and a source of future growth in the UK market

James McLean, CEO of Click Travel added: “Today’s acquisition by TravelPerk is a clear validation of our growth ambitions and future plans. We look forward to the next stage with confidence.”

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.