附近上门

Travel tech company has raised $8.5 million in funding led by and , the company said Friday.聽

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The idea behind Toronto-based Sherpa is that 鈥渢he best border crossing experience is no border crossing experience,鈥� according to CEO . The company wants to make international travel as easy as domestic travel, and its technology allows travel companies to build travel requirements, such as visa applications, into their products.

Anyone who鈥檚 traveled internationally and has needed a visa knows how much of a tedious process it can be. And the COVID-19 pandemic has only made the situation worse, as international travel restrictions, mandatory quarantines and other requirements are frequently changing.聽

鈥淒uring the COVID period, this is a problem that鈥檚 always been big for the travel industry but it鈥檚 never been bigger,鈥� Tremaine said in an interview.

While other travel companies have struggled in the past year because of the pandemic, Sherpa鈥檚 been extremely busy because of demand for the product, Tremaine said. It added partners including , , 听补苍诲 .

Before the pandemic, Sherpa was primarily used post-booking and would process a few hundred thousand API requests per month. Now it鈥檚 processing more than a billion API requests per month.聽

鈥淪ince we鈥檙e a tech company, we can build this stuff in and make it completely seamless,鈥� Tremaine said. 鈥淲e track millions of data points and make it so it鈥檚 easier for travelers.鈥�

The idea of Sherpa was already compelling pre-COVID, before all the talk of vaccine passports and other health documents to travel came about, according to , a partner at Narrative Fund. Anyone who travels or works in the travel space knows Sherpa鈥檚 product is overdue, she said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 just a massive opportunity here,鈥� Wong said in an interview. 鈥淎nd this past year, it鈥檚 an entirely new business layer and opportunity on top of what was already existing so it just multiplies the opportunity.鈥�

With the new funding, the company plans to add travel documents as an ancillary product, integrate deeper with the companies it works with, and expand internationally. Sherpa鈥檚 mostly been working with American companies, but use in Europe has increased significantly, and it鈥檚 beginning to work more within Asia and the Middle East, Tremaine said.聽

The company鈥檚 workforce has grown from 16 employees in December to 26 at the end of April. It hopes to have more than 50 employees by the end of the year.

The round brings Sherpa鈥檚 total funding to roughly $9 million, according to Tremaine. Other investors in the company include , , , , , , CEO , and Expedia.ca founder

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