TripActions raises $400M in debt financing ahead of expected IPO

TripActions Inc., a startup with a cloud platform that companies use to manage business trips and employee expenses, has secured $400 million in debt financing.

TripActions announced the new financing today. Most of the funds were provided by Goldman Sachs in the form of a warehouse debt facility worth up to $300 million. Additionally, TripActions secured a $100 million asset-backed credit facility from Silicon Valley Bank.

The debt financing comes a few weeks after TripActions raised a $304 Series G funding round. The round increased the startup’s valuation from $7.5 billion to $9.2 billion. Previously, it was reported in September that TripActions was planning to go public next year. 

“TripActions is leading the way in transforming business travel and spend management with its innovative model and solutions,” said Bob Blee, the head of U.S. technology corporate banking at Silicon Valley Bank. “Their continued growth is a testament to the strength of their platform and the value they bring to their customers.”

Palo Alto, California-based TripActions provides a cloud platform that companies use to organize business trips for employees. The startup’s platform also offers expense management tools, as well as a line of corporate cards dubbed Liquid.

TripActions enables companies to book flight tickets, lodging and ground transport for employees through a cloud-based interface. The startup offers access to discounts that it negotiates in advance on behalf of customers. Additionally, TripActions provides travel services such as trip planning.  

TripActions offers its core business travel features alongside a set of expense management tools. According to the startup, its tools automate several of the tasks involved in approving and reimbursing employee expenses. TripActions also enables companies to issue corporate cards to employees. 

The corporate cards, which TripActions offers under the Liquid brand, enable a company’s employees to make work-related purchases on a self-service basis. Liquid cards can be configured to automatically approve common expenses. According to TripActions, the built-in automation features save time for finance teams by reducing the need to manually approve purchases. 

TripActions stated today that it will use its newly raised debt financing to support customer acquisition initatives. According to the startup, its customer base currently includes more than 8,000 organizations including Box Inc., Snowflake Inc. and other major tech companies.

TripActions’ growth efforts will place a particular emphasis on expanding adoption of its Liquid line of corporate cards. According to TripActions, the value of purchases made with Liquid cards increased more than 500% year-over-year during the third quarter.

It’s also possible that TripActions will use a portion of the newly raised financing for acquisitions. The startup has acquired four trip management companies over the past two years to expand its travel services business. TripActions completed its most recent acquisition, the purchase of Spain-based Atlanta Agencia de Viajes, S.A., in November. 

Image: TripActions