Business Showcase : GoEuro

By @SimonCocking

Describe the company – the elevator pitch …
GoEuro is a travel search platform that allows you to compare and combine rail, bus and air transport across Europe. Our platform revolutionizes the travel planning experience, providing customers with more choice, transparent pricing, travel times and easier booking.

GoEuro let travelers search to and from any location, including towns or villages, showing you the best possible transport combinations based on price, total travel time and convenience – Eliminating the need to visit multiple websites to plan an entire trip. With GoEuro, travel planning is simple, flexible and personal.

How are you different?

We are the largest, normalized distribution platform across the majority of ground and air transportation in Europe. Our ability to bring an entire industry which mostly works offline by proprietary technology is unique. We do not currently see anyone else offering full rail and bus coverage in 11 European countries, including the six largest EU markets. We compete with regional companies in any specific market and that also varies vastly from market to market. We believe GoEuro stands out in being the only tool you need to find your best rail, bus and air travel options in Europe in one single easy-to-use platform.

Why will the company / product do well?

I traveled for four months across 14 countries in Europe in summer 2010. It was fantastic experience, but I spent too much time planning my trips rather than enjoying travel. For example, I wanted to go from Edinburgh to London but couldn’t easily discover if a flight, train or bus would be the best option based on time versus price. And when travelling from Heidelberg to Prague I couldn’t figure out which train or bus would get me to the airport or to my end destination.

The train operators are not all presented on one platform and each country has a different way of showing data and user experience, so unless you know the name of the train company it’s a challenging process. It’s the same for coaches and buses. Overall infrastructure for travel (especially ground travel) is phenomenal, but access to information and distribution is non existent. This is the problem we are trying to fix.

Where are you based?

GoEuro is based in Berlin. We chose Berlin as our HQ for multiple reasons. It’s an extremely vibrant startup scene right now, and that means we have great access to the technical talent here. Berlin is also such a diverse city, with young people from all over the world so we can find people that have done a lot of traveling and really understand the travel challenges that we are out there to solve

When was the company launched?

The company is two and a half years old.

What have been your biggest wins to date?

Being able to offer full service in 11 European countries and the platform fully adapted in 9 languages in just two years is the biggest win.

What type of people (market segment) are you trying to attract to your product?

GoEuro is aimed at any type of traveler, whether for pleasure or business travel. It’s for anyone looking to plan a journey within Europe and wants to discover the simplest, most convenient and most cost effective transport options. Because users can search between any town and city, it’s particularly useful when travelling to unfamiliar locations where typically you wouldn’t know the local transport systems to take you to your destination.

Tell us about your team?

We are a dedicated team of 150 employees from 32 countries, sharing the same vision of creating a single tool to get you anywhere in Europe.

What are you long term plans for your product / company?

With the recent announcement of securing $45 million in Series B financing led by Goldman Sachs Investment, we plan on expanding at a faster rate concentrating on product development, investment from new partner integration and further customer acquisition in Europe and beyond.

Our long term goal however, is to have our product completely connecting Europe’s transport industry with our tool.

What are your favourite tech gadgets?

iPhone

How do people get in touch with you?

You can reach us on our contact page here:

And on twitter here : @GoEuro

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.net or on Twitter: @SimonCocking