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Wego Pte Ltd.
Company type Private
Industry Travel
Founded2005; 19 years ago (2005) in Singapore
Headquarters
Singapore and Dubai
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Ross Veitch [1]
(CEO & Co-founder)
Craig Hewett
(Co-founder)
Mamoun Hmedan [2]
(GM MENA & India)
Dean Wicks [3]
(Chief Flights Officer)
ProductsFlights, Hotels, Holiday Deals
Number of employees
200
Website www.wego.com

Wego is the number 1 travel app for flight search and booking in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region with a year-over-year growth of over 157.7% and 143,002 downloads in February 2023, according to data.ai. [4]

Formerly known as Bezurk, [5] [6] [7] Wego is a travel metasearch engine that was founded in Singapore in 2005. The company is headquartered in both Singapore and Dubai. It operates 76 country sites ( CcTLD) in over 22 languages and local currencies. [8] Wego enables users to compare hotel and flight deals, generating search results tailored to their specific travel needs.

Wego displays a comprehensive list of local and international airfares and hotel search results from a variety of sources, including online travel agencies (OTA), airlines, and hotels. Users can access these results through either the desktop website or the travel app for iOS and Android. After selecting a deal, the user is redirected to the travel supplier to complete the booking.

History & Milestones

Founding and Rebranding

Wego, originally known as Bezurk, was established in Singapore in 2005 by Ross Veitch [9] and Craig Hewett. The company underwent a rebranding in May 2008 due to the original name being considered “hard to remember and spell.” [10]

Funding Rounds

Wego’s first funding round, Series A, took place in January 2008, where it received US$4.5 million from News Digital Media, the digital division of News Limited. This was followed by a Series B funding round in December 2010, where the company secured US$13 million from Tiger Global Management. In June 2013, Wego closed its Series C [11] funding round with an investment of US$17 million from Tiger Global Management, Crescent Point Group, and SquarePeg Capital. The company continued to attract investments with a Series D round in October 2015 that raised US$11 million from existing investors Tiger Global Management and Crescent Point Group. The most recent funding round, Series E, [12] occurred in August 2017 and raised US$12 million from the Middle East Broadcasting Center.

Expansion and Growth

In 2013, Wego expanded its operations by launching regional offices in Bangalore, [13] Jakarta, and Dubai. [14] The company’s initial penetration into the Middle Eastern market in 2012 proved successful as its revenue soared to US$1 billion worth of gross travel bookings across its entire business by 2018. [15] In February 2023, Wego earned the distinction of being the most downloaded travel app for flight-focused brands in the MENA region. This achievement was marked by a year-over-year growth of over 157.7% and 143,002 downloads. [16]

Recognition

In 2019, Wego received recognition from the World Economic Forum and the Bahrain Economic Development Board as one of the 100 most promising Arab start-ups shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution. [17]

Product Launches and Acquisitions

In 2021, Wego launched ShopCash, an online shopping cashback rewards and deal discovery app for the MENA Market. [18] In a strategic move to expand its reach into business travel and expense management, Wego acquired Travelstop, a platform that simplifies business travel and expense management for companies globally, in October 2023. [19]

Market activity

Wego's core markets are in the MENA and INSUB. Wego has been identified as the top travel app in the MENA region for flight search and booking. In 2022, Wego holds the number 1 rank in travel bookings in the KSA. [20] Wego partners up with various smartphone manufacturers (Samsung being a prime example) to have their app come preinstalled. [21] Wego also inked a partnership with Huawei’s Petal Search, an easy-to-use application and search engine pre-installed on Huawei smartphones. [22]

Each month Wego sends flight and hotel booking referrals worth US$2B to its travel partners. In addition to partnerships with hotels, airlines and OTAs, Wego continuously collaborates with tourism boards of various countries, such as Great Britain, [23] Japan, [24] Czech Republic, [25] Thailand, [26] Singapore, [27] South Korea, [28] Jordan, [29] Macao [30] and many others, to increase travel demands to and from said countries. [31]

References

  1. ^ "WIT (WEB IN TRAVEL) TO LAUNCH AFRICAN EDITION IN 2020". Northstar Travel Group. October 14, 2019.
  2. ^ "(Press Release) Wego launches new TVC, appoints Mamoun Hmedan as General Manager-MENA". Archived from the original on 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2015-09-03.
  3. ^ "(Press Release) More LCCs compete for air supremacy, Dean Wicks Chief Flights Officer".
  4. ^ "Wego top travel search app in Mena with 157% growth". www.tradearabia.com. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  5. ^ "Plane and Simple". The Wall Street Journal. 26 October 2007. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  6. ^ "News Digital takes stake in Bezurk.com". Herald Sun. 15 January 2008.
  7. ^ "Bezurk". CNN. July 2007.
  8. ^ "Wego appoints Ross Veitch as CEO, plans 34 new country sites". eyefortravel. 24 February 2012.
  9. ^ "Interview with Ross Veitch, co-founder of wego.com". Tech in Asia. 10 September 2009.
  10. ^ "Bezurk.com changes name to wego.com". EyeforTravel. 9 May 2008.
  11. ^ Lukman, Enricko (24 June 2013). "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". Tech in Asia.
  12. ^ WiT (2017-08-09). "The Wrap: MBC Group, Middle East's leading multimedia company, invests in Wego". WIT. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  13. ^ "Wego grows India presence with new office". TTG Asia. 18 February 2013. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  14. ^ "Travel site Wego launches Dubai operations". ArabianIndustry.com. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  15. ^ Siew Hoon, Yeoh (March 25, 2019). "Wego Soars to Profitability and 1b Gross Bookings on Back of Middle East Success". Web in Travel.
  16. ^ Rokou, Tatiana (2023-04-11). "Wego named the No1 travel app for flight searches and bookings". TravelDailyNews International (in Greek). Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  17. ^ Meet the 100 Arab start-ups shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution
  18. ^ S, Amirtha P. (March 2021). "Travel portal Wego steps into deal discovery platform; Launches 'ShopCash' - GCC Business News". www.gccbusinessnews.com. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
  19. ^ Jain, Shweta (2023-09-12). "Wego buys Singapore's Travelstop to expand into business travel". TheNationalNews. Retrieved 2023-10-06.
  20. ^ Release, Press. "27K unique conversions every day: Here's how travel brand Wego achieved a remarkable feat". www.zawya.com. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
  21. ^ "Wego Partners With Samsung to Preinstall its Application on Samsung Smartphones". UAE News 247. April 2, 2019. Archived from the original on 26 Feb 2020. Retrieved 8 Sep 2021.
  22. ^ "Huawei, Wego partner on one-app travel experience". www.tradearabia.com. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
  23. ^ Ltd, Jacobs Media Group (March 2023). "VisitBritain targets GCC in new..." Connecting Travel. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  24. ^ Bhutia, Peden Doma (2023-02-22). "Saudi Arabia Plans Massive Green Downtown for Riyadh". Skift. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
  25. ^ Rokou, Tatiana (2022-12-27). "CzechTourism and Wego bring you the best of the Winter in the Czech Republic". TravelDailyNews International (in Greek). Retrieved 2023-03-10.
  26. ^ sheharareeezly. "Wego partners with 'Tourism Authority of Thailand' to drive tourism from MENA – Tourism Breaking News". Retrieved 2023-03-10.
  27. ^ "Singapore Tourism Board Partners with Wego in Middle East". Breaking Travel News. September 16, 2019.
  28. ^ "South Korea Signs With Wego for Middle East Tourism Push". Travelmaker. November 24, 2019.
  29. ^ "Jordan Tourism Board Partners With Wego". UAE NEWS 247. August 26, 2019.
  30. ^ "Macao Tourism Office Partners". Yahoo Finance. November 12, 2019.
  31. ^ "Singapore Tourism Board Partners With Wego in Middle East". Breaking Travel News. September 16, 2019.
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