06/01/2022
Source: Diário do Comércio
After nearly collapsing at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, but recovering in 2020, Minas Gerais-based travel tech Onfly starts 2022 celebrating the expansion of 2021 and projecting further growth. Specializing in corporate travel management, the startup has more than eight times the number of customers and expects to triple its customer base in the next 12 months. It is also on the radar to participate in a new round of funding in the first half of next year.
Onfly ended December 2021 with 300 recurring customers. A year earlier, it was 36. By 2022, the goal is to reach 900 organizations served, according to Marcelo Linhares, cofounder and CEO of travel tech. To cope with the demand, the staff has also been and is being expanded: from 17 employees in December 2020, to 67 in December 2021. “We ended the year with new members joining,” informs the CEO.
Still according to Linhares, Onfly is preparing to obtain new contributions. “We intend to participate in a new round of funding in the first half of 2022,” he says. By the way, the company started 2021 by announcing to receive R$2 million from Cedro Capital fund, resources applied in the acceleration of the startup from Minas Gerais.
Among the investments made by Onfly in 2021, were the launch of the corporate card, which streamlines, debureaucratizes, and brings more efficiency and security to the execution of expenses and reimbursements; the beginning of the acquisition process of travel agencies in conventional models, promoting the digital transformation of these enterprises; and also the inclusion of bus tickets as an option for customers, serving locations far from airports.
Market recognition is also part of the set of achievements for 2021. The company was awarded the “Hot 25 Startups for 2022” prize by Phocuswright, a reference in tourism and travel industry research. It was also recognized as “number 1” among the “TOP 10 Travel Techs” in the “Ranking 100 Open Startups 2021”.
About the positive perspectives for 2022, Linhares is based on recent movements in the travel and tourism production chain itself. “After almost two years in restrictions, there is pent-up demand,” Onfly’s CEO notes. Market surveys signal this upturn. Kayak research, for example, released in the third quarter of 2021, indicated that almost half of the public (46%) is expected to get back into the corporate travel routine as early as the first three months of 2022.
Onfly was founded in late 2018 in Belo Horizonte by Marcelo Linhares and Elvis Soares as a startup that uses automation and artificial intelligence to provide general corporate travel and expense management services to corporations. Just as the company was preparing its consolidation, along came the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. It went practically to zero revenue, but it reformulated its strategies and grew again. It serves companies from various parts of Brazil and from the most varied sizes and sectors of the economy.
