Umapped acquired by Flight Centre Travel Group

TORONTO, Sept. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Umapped, the leading collaborative itinerary and experience platform, announced today it has been acquired by Flight Centre Travel Group (ASX:FLT), one of the world's largest travel companies employing more than 20,000 people worldwide with over 30 brands in 23 countries.

The Toronto-based travel technology company has revolutionized the traditional travel itinerary, enabling travel brands and advisors to effectively engage with their customers before, during and after their trips. The Umapped platform consolidates bookings, curated content, communications and real-time location data into a single web and mobile interface. Traveller quotes and documents are transformed from static emails and PDFs into a collaborative, living itinerary experience.

FLT's infrastructure and brands will provide Umapped with the resources to accelerate the adoption of its technology globally. A key focus will include expanding product offerings to deliver even deeper connections between suppliers, travel advisors and their customers.

"Our business transformation program has increased our focus on improving the user experience by removing pain points," said Atle Skalleberg, Chief Digital Officer of Flight Centre Travel Group. "This acquisition will deliver immediate improvements to several of our businesses, including interactive, media-rich enhanced itineraries that feature personalised offers and content, live updates, two-way messaging, real-time chat, and much more."

The acquisition will enhance FLT's web and mobile services to deliver upgraded documentation, better templates and seamless, real-time communication between consultants and customers.

"We have been impressed with the platform and believe it can have a positive impact on our consultants' productivity and on our customers' travel experiences," FLT CEO Graham "Skroo" Turner said. "We continue to invest in technology and teams that can surface our expertise, but also make millions of engagements with our customers easier and more personal. We hope to deploy Umapped software in several countries within a year."

Umapped was founded in 2012 by Lisa Israelovitch, CEO, and Thierry Wong, the business's Chief Technology Officer and has grown to a team of 16 people.

"Both Flight Centre Travel Group and Umapped are pioneers in the travel industry, said Israelovitch. "Both companies share similar values and a deep commitment to empower travel advisors and suppliers with technology that adds significant value throughout the customer journey. We are very excited to work alongside the talented FLT team to develop new product offerings with a continued commitment to customer service."

Umapped will continue operating as an independent business unit. Co-founders Lisa Israelovitch and Thierry Wong will continue to run the company and report to Atle Skalleberg, Chief Digital Officer of Flight Centre Travel Group.

About Umapped

Umapped is the award-winning collaborative B2B2C itinerary and experience platform for the travel industry. Available as a white label and API solution, Umapped helps leading global brands and travel advisors engage with their customers throughout their travel journey by delivering interactive, media-rich consolidated mobile itineraries with relevant offers, content and messaging. The pioneering platform also maximizes productivity and streamlines business workflow. With the company's API services, developers can incorporate the unique functionality as part of their own applications and solutions.

About FLT

FLT is one of the world's largest travel companies, employing more than 20,000 people and generating $21.8billion in total transaction value during the 2018 fiscal year. The company, which was founded in Australia in 1982, has leisure and corporate travel businesses in 23 countries, plus an expanding network of in-destination businesses (tour operators, destination management companies and Asia-based hotel management business BHMA). FLT floated on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1995 and is now an ASX Top 100 company with a market capitalisation in the order of $AU6billion.

Media Contacts:
Flight Centre Travel Group
Hadyn Long
+61 418 750454
haydn_long@flightcentre.com

Umapped
Lisa Israelovitch,
CEO/Co-Founder
lisa@umapped.com

SOURCE Umapped