Travel marketing firm Sojern gets US$120m in investment

Travel tech and marketing company, Sojern has received US$120 million from growth equity firm TCV in the latest financing round. With the added push, Sojern looks to accelerate solutions developments for its clients who are mainly from the travel sector, independent hotel properties and local tourism providers.As part of the transaction, TCV general partner Woody Marshall joins Sojern’s board of directors. Marshall said that the firm has been watching Sojern’s rapid rise in the travel technology space for several years, and was impressed with its leadership position in the space and its scalable model for influencing travelers worldwide."Sojern’s ability to both conceptualise a better marketing experience for travel organisations and their steady execution over the past decade, as well as their innovative business strategy, strong executive team, and inspiring company culture made them a natural fit for us," he added.TCV is said to have extensive experience in the travel and martech space, investing in the likes of Airbnb, Expedia, and TripAdvisor, among others. Currently, Sojern offers a scalable model for driving bookings through a blend of programmatic display, video, social, mobile and native advertising. This is tailored to reach travel audiences as they move through the process of planning and researching an upcoming trip. Last year, it acquired Facebook and Instagram marketing partner Adphorus. It also tests into connected TV, and makes its real-time audiences available to top clients via a programmatic in-house offering.Sojern CEO Mark Rabe (pictured) said that the team digs deep into the traveler path-to-purchase to help its clients "win the competition" for bookings. Thus far, he added that those insights have driven US$13 billion in bookings, as the company aims to transform digital marketing into digital distribution."With this new partnership with TCV, we’re excited to continue driving efficiency into the estimated US$100 billion being spent by travel brands around the world," Rabe said.