Travel PayTech Swiipr raises £6m in Series A funding

By Gloria Methri

Swiipr, a travel PayTech company digitally transforming airline disruption payments, has secured £6 million in Series A funding. Octopus Ventures led the funding round, with TX Ventures and Solano Partners supporting to reach its successful outcome.

The capital will be deployed towards Swiipr’s strategy, product, and technology development, including investment into R&D, AI and data analytics and to drive international airline market growth.

As an airline-specialised payments platform, Swiipr is enabling airlines to digitise disruption payments, greatly enhancing the passenger experience. Since its launch in 2020, the company has been used by 26 airlines across 70 countries, including a major flag carrier whose 4,000 staff are utilising the platform in over 167 of its airports globally.

Over 500 million global passengers are estimated to be affected by flight disruption each year, costing airlines billions of dollars in payouts as well as significant customer dissatisfaction, reputational damage and regulatory fines, making compensation a board agenda issue for airlines.

Swiipr’s integrated digital platform, including virtual and physical pre-paid compensation cards and a mobile app, gives airlines the tools needed to solve these pain points for both them and passengers while remaining fully compliant with the latest passenger rights regulations.

For passengers, Swiipr has launched the Swiipr Compensation Card, which enables airlines to distribute funds directly to passengers at the point of disruption (such as denied boarding or lost luggage), and the Swiipr Welfare Card, which enables airlines to distribute food & beverage payments when flights are delayed instantly. The cards offer instant, secure, and compliant payouts in a streamlined digital format that has universal retail compatibility.

Tara Spielhagen, Co-founder and CEO of Swiipr said, “Legacy compensation systems are unfit for purpose. Not only do they cost an airline billions of dollars every year, but they also exacerbate disruption and stress. We are proud to have developed a new solution that solves so many pain points. Our airline partners and their customers are already reaping the benefits.”

Co-founder and Chairman of Swiipr Ian Clowes said, “Swiipr solves a real-live global issue for airlines that is only going to become more challenging with climate change. Now, thanks to Octopus, our Series A capital will enable us to enhance our solutions even further and accelerate our growth, helping us to achieve our vision of eliminating compensation friction points wherever they exist.”