PrivateFly raises investment funds
Company raises £2 million from eight private investors
PrivateFly.com recently announced its plans
for expansion, following successful investment fundraising of £2 million
generated from eight private investors.
The company says the funds will be used to
deliver a roll-out to new international markets, upgrades across all its
platforms, including those for mobile apps and enhanced real-time integration
of pricing and availability with aircraft operators.
PrivateFly’s chairman Richard Carrick,
commented: “The recession has been a catalyst for change in the private
aviation industry, with increased cost-consciousness creating a clear demand
for more price transparency and immediacy. PrivateFly.com has used this to its
advantage, delivering significant enhancements in response speed, price and
ease of use within the charter segment.
“The successful fundraising
demonstrates investor confidence in the industry, particularly the ad-hoc
charter market. Other private aviation segments, such as fractional ownership,
have struggled post-recession due to the customer requirement of upfront cash
commitment. Challenging market conditions give greater opportunity for profit
and PrivateFly.com is a highly-scalable, low-risk, low-cost investment
opportunity with a lean, online business model and aggressive pricing strategy.
It ticked all the investor boxes”.
Adam Twidell, PrivateFly’s chief executive
and co-founder said “The money raised will be used to invest in innovative
technology which will bring considerable efficiency benefits to customers and
registered aircraft operators. It will also allow us to open up our
distribution through investment in marketing, including to new territories.”
“The race is now on, with other players
testing different disruptive technologies to turn this traditional market on
his head. The traditional broker with legacy business practices is being
threatened by new business models, just as online travel aggregators challenged
high street agents several years ago. The opportunity for change is significant
and PrivateFly can now accelerate forward to our goal of delivering ultimate
choice and agility to the global private aviation customer of tomorrow.”