For decades, travel operators have been unable to run a profitable resale experience for their non-refundable customers, even though other bookable services have been allowing resale with great success in the past years.
French startup Fairlyne effectively removes the technological, functional, and economic barriers of resale in the travel world. Using Fairlyne, white label products, travel brands, and operators can now add resale to their distribution maximising customer satisfaction by giving them more flexibility whilst generating additional profitability by providing a second opportunity for non-refundable tickets.
Plans to expand to the US
Now, Fairlyne, the Resale-as-a-Service platform for the travel industry, has picked up $3 million in a seed round. Speedinvest led the investment round with participation from Evolem, which backed Paris climate tech startup Riverse, Kima Ventures, which invested in Trezy and Finres, and FJ Lab as well as several angel investors.
The funds will be used to further develop the platform, expedite the deployment of Fairlyne with enterprise clients across the travel industry, and expand to new markets, including the US. Also, the fresh capital will be used for expansion in the airlines, railway and road transportation, and hospitality sectors.
Gilles de Richemond, Co-Founder and CEO explained: “With Michael and Morgan, we started thinking about new approaches to distribution while working together at Accor. We realized that travel customers were willing to resell their bookings and meanwhile, no-shows represent a lucrative opportunity for travel operators – if they could offer customers who couldn’t make it the chance to resell in advance. So, we built a platform, which can be integrated into any operators’ consumer-facing channels providing customers with a seamless resale experience. The incremental revenue from no-shows can be significant.”
Michael d’Eboli, Fairlyne co-founder and CPTO, said: “Almost every sector from clothing to cars to jewellery has formalised ways for brands to facilitate customers reselling their products. The main reason that travel hasn’t been part of this trend, and why travel operators are missing out, is that the technology hasn’t been there for something which can be complicated. Fairlyne is the turnkey solution that addresses this gap and opens incremental revenue streams for our travel partners.”
Jeroen Arts, Partner at Speedinvest said: “We are thrilled to support Fairlyne as they pioneer the future of travel resale. Their exceptional ability to generate substantial incremental revenue and their remarkable progress in establishing a robust network effect are truly awe-inspiring.”
First-of-its-kind platform for the travel industry
Founded in 2021 in Paris by Gilles de Richemond, Michael d’Eboli, and Morgan Guérin, Fairlyne is building the world’s first Resale-as-a-Service platform for the travel industry. This platform allows travel brands to generate incremental revenue and deliver a seamless resale experience to their customers.
With a focus on customer-centricity, the company offers a white-label SaaS product that enables tourism and travel operators to establish their own secondary market on their channels. Operators can generate additional revenue, boost brand loyalty, and create an exquisite customer experience.
Through Fairlyne’s partnership with OUIGO, SNCF’s French low-cost train operator, 100,000 passengers already have used the service directly on OUIGO’s direct channels, website and app. Recently, the company ranked 1st out of 300 startups in the Royal Air Maroc (RAM) Open Innovation challenge. RAM will implement Fairlyne technology in the next three to six months and will be the first airline to pioneer a resale experience for their customers.
