Knowledge Hub / SILVERRAIL RAISES $40M IN FUNDING TO ADVANCE GLOBAL RAIL TICKETING

SILVERRAIL RAISES $40M IN FUNDING TO ADVANCE GLOBAL RAIL TICKETING

The author: Frederic Kalinke

02/01/2014

Written by Frederic Kalinke

We’re extremely excited to announce a new round of additional funding for SilverRail – a $40m Series C investment, led by Mithril Capital, a growth equity investment firm, founded by Peter Thiel and Ajay Royan. We’re looking forward to the coming years while we continue to prove out the thesis that the rail market can be significantly improved through consolidating the technology into a single platform for the distribution of tickets worldwide.

The full press release is below.

SilverRail, the global leader in passenger rail search and distribution technologies, today announced it has raised $40m in Series C funding to accelerate the integration of global rail carriers, continue building next generation search technology, and expand carrier IT solutions. This will include multi-modal journey planning and pricing, booking and reservation management, inventory and seating management, and reporting and analytics.

The Series C investment round was led by Mithril Capital Management, the global technology investment firm founded by Ajay Royan and Peter Thiel, and supported by existing investors – Canaan Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures and Brook Ventures.

“There are two critical global networks that have never worked well together: web and rail,” said Ajay Royan, co-founder and managing general partner at Mithril Capital Management. “Currently, a lot of time, energy, and data are being wasted. By upgrading the interactions among users, operators, and travel agents, SilverRail is making train travel much easier than air.” Royan will join the company’s board of directors.

“Mithril, which focuses on businesses that use technology to solve intractable problems, often in traditional sectors long overdue for innovation, is a perfect fit for SilverRail”, said Aaron Gowell, co-founder and CEO of SilverRail. “This additional funding will allow us to continue to develop market leading solutions for both rail carriers and travel sellers around the world,” he added.

Aaron Gowell and Will Phillipson founded SilverRail in 2009 with the vision of connecting every major rail carrier in the world and transforming search and ticketing. By consolidating content across multiple rail carrier systems, SilverRail has created a global marketplace for sellers and suppliers to connect, a feat historically close to impossible.

Today, the SilverRail platform is connected to markets accounting for $60bn in rail transactions throughout North America and Europe. In the last year alone, SilverRail has added connections in Spain, Italy, and Sweden, and is looking to move into Asia, with the goal of having all major global rail carriers integrated over the coming years.

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