Travel search engine and comparison website Skyscanner has secured major new investment to boost its global growth.
The first Scottish company to achieve the elite “unicorn” status of a $1 billion valuation has secured fresh backing from five investor funds to the tune of £128 million.
The new funding, which has boosted Skyscanner’s total value to an estimated £1.11bn, is to accelerate its growth in a market worth about £332bn.
The world leader in the online travel booking sector has a search engine attracting 50 million users a month.
New investors include Baillie Gifford investment house in Edinburgh, the investment arm of the Malaysian government, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, and Yahoo! Japan, with which Skyscanner is already a partner.
Other new backers are London-based Artemis, which manages £22bn of funds, and Vitruvian Partners, a private equity fund specialising in technology.
Gareth Williams, Skyscanner’s founder and chief executive, said the new investors brought expertise which would help develop new markets online and around the world.
Starting in 2003 as a search engine for air tickets, the Edinburgh company made its first profit in 2009.
In October 2013 it secured a major investment from leading Silicon Valley technology investor Sequoia Capital, which put Skyscanner’s valuation at about £500m.
The company launched an app which has now been downloaded more than 40 million times.
It also moved into car rental and hotels, and processes search results for 1,200 business partners.
Skyscanner has offices around the world catering for 30 languages, and has new headquarters in Edinburgh’s Quartermile development.
Skyscanner declined to divulge the stakes of the new investors who follow early backers including Scottish Equity Partners, which remains a major shareholder.
Mr Williams said: “Skyscanner has enjoyed high double-digit growth rates for some years now.
“This financing round and our recent new hires allow us to build fantastic further tools for travellers.
“We have so much more to do together. It’s an exciting time.”
Scotland’s other ‘unicorn’ is the fantasy gaming site FanDuel.
The two firms are deemed vital for growing the Scottish technology sector, having inspired other start-ups and attracted the attention of Scottish investment institutions.