General Atlantic announced a strategic growth investment in Plusgrade, a leader powering ancillary revenue solutions for the travel industry. With this deal, Novacap will fully exit its stake in Plusgrade, and existing investor CDPQ will remain a significant shareholder. And General Atlantic plans to partner with Plusgrade to support the company’s continued growth, including through the acceleration of new business segments and go-to-market efforts, strategic M&A opportunities, and key operational initiatives.
Over 200 partners worldwide across the airline, hospitality, cruise, passenger rail, and financial services industries depend on Plusgrade’s portfolio of leading ancillary revenue offerings and loyalty expertise to create incredible travel experiences and new revenue opportunities.
In 2022, Plusgrade acquired Points.com – which brought together two of the largest sources of ancillary revenue to create even greater impact for travel businesses worldwide. Plusgrade further expanded its portfolio last year with the acquisition of UpStay, a provider of hotel upgrade and ancillary revenue solutions for the hospitality industry.
The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Barclays served as financial advisor and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal advisor. And Goodmans LLP served as co-counsel to General Atlantic. JPMorgan served as lead financial advisor; Scotiabank served as financial advisor; and Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP served as legal advisor to Plusgrade.
KEY QUOTES:
“Ancillary revenue has become a critical driver of financial robustness for travel companies in every sector, and as the global ancillary revenue powerhouse, Plusgrade plays a central role in helping our travel partners create, grow, and enable major new revenue opportunities. We believe we have significant opportunity ahead of us to continue innovating and building out our leading portfolio even further. Our team is deeply grateful to Novacap for their transformative partnership and all the new heights that we achieved together. We are thrilled to welcome General Atlantic as a strategic partner to help us accelerate our mission and vision by leveraging the firm’s deep expertise across travel, software, and technology.”
- Ken Harris, Founder and CEO of Plusgrade
“Ken and the Plusgrade team have worked diligently to scale the business and offer partners a differentiated portfolio of solutions. With ancillary revenues and loyalty programs standing as some of the most important drivers of growth in the travel industry today, we believe Plusgrade is strongly positioned to continue capturing the market. We have strong conviction in Plusgrade’s vision and are excited to support the company in future value creation initiatives.”
- Tanzeen Syed, Managing Director and Head of Consumer Internet and Technology at General Atlantic
“CDPQ is proud to reiterate its support for Montréal-based Plusgrade, which has grown significantly since we became a shareholder in 2018. Alongside this new and experienced partner, we look forward to pursuing value creation in this leader in the travel industry’s ancillary revenue market, which will benefit our depositors.”
- Kim Thomassin, Executive Vice-President and Head of Québec at CDPQ
