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Torpedo7 and 1-Day founders behind acquisition of Travelbug
TRAVEL BOOKING SERVICES 2016 LP
Media
Release
5 December 2016
Torpedo7 and 1-Day
founders behind acquisition of Trade Me’s Travelbug and
BookIt online businesses
As announced by Trade Me earlier today, Travel Booking Services 2016 LP has purchased the company’s accommodation website, Travelbug, and online booking engine, BookIt.
Two of the five Travel Booking Services directors are Guy and Luke Howard-Willis, the founders of Torpedo7 and 1-Day e-commerce businesses.
Other directors include Philip Deason, Reg Prasad and Kathryn Williams of digital media company F6, Alex Mark of online marketing company Groovy Media.
Company director, Luke Howard-Willis said, “The directors of Travel Booking Services have a shared passion for growing online New Zealand businesses. And Guy and my track record building Torpedo7 and 1-Day proves we have the experience to build online businesses that are best-of-class.
“Trade Me has built both Travelbug and BookIt into two solid platforms. We are excited to now invest further into making each of these online businesses even better – and all for the benefit of the customers each services.”
Luke Howard-Willis said in the short-term both Travelbug and BookIt customers can expect “business as usual.”
“Our team will take the time to get to know our customers and gain feedback from them. We’ll take that feedback on board, and in the New Year we will start to build some new innovations into each of the online businesses.
“Although it’s too early to announce any detail around these innovations. We can confidently say that we will provide some exciting, ongoing enhancements for our customers as we move forward,” he said.
Trade Me CEO Jon Macdonald said the sale was the best option for Trade Me and the businesses’ customers.
“It’s difficult for us to justify prioritising time and money for Travelbug and BookIt given the other opportunities we have across Trade Me. The TBS team have considerable experience in large-scale e-commerce businesses, and we wish them all the best.”
Travel Booking Services is New Zealand-based with headquarters located in Hamilton.
The purchase price is confidential and the ownership change was completed late last week.
-ENDS-
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