Travel startups Cloud9xp and HeartBeat Ventures have merged and will work together under the Cloud9xp banner.
The move will enable the companies to scale faster and be able to provide better customer service and offer a wider array of products to customers.
Cloud9xp is an online marketplace, booking service and distributor for leisure experiences while Heartbeat Adventures, founded in 2017, is a travel company that leverages technology.
First active in 2016, the firm (Cloud9xp) raised $73,000 from investors on local investment show KCB Lion’s Den in 2017. The startup also took part in Google Launchpad Africa accelerator and DEMO Africa in Morocco.
The merger will enable the companies to provide an improved customer experience. SOme of the additional products they intend to add include: in-destination management, and flight and accommodation bookings.
The amalgamation of Cloud9xp’s technology and partnerships with HeartBeat’s experience from operating across travel and tourism spheres.
HeartBeat Adventures’ founder Winnie Kimathi has been appointed to the Managing Director role, in which she will oversee the company’s day to day operations.
Cloud9xp co-founder Tesh Mbaabu said, “This move extends the collaboration between the teams at the two companies, as we have already been working together over the last nine months, with Heartbeat Adventures being one of our best-performing experience providers on the Cloud9xp platform.”
The company has also announced a new board chairman as Håvar Bauck, himself a successful entrepreneur; he is the co-founder and executive chairman of HotelOnline which was founded in 2014. It has since risen to prominence as a leading digital marketer and e-commerce enabler for independent hotels in Africa.
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Mr. Bauck said, “Cloud9XP is one of the most exciting ventures in the African traveltech space at the moment. The merger with Heartbeat Ventures creates a new, disruptive force in an industry begging for innovation. Hotel distribution has moved online, but tours and activities are still marketed and distributed the same way they were 30 years ago. Cloud9xp now moves to fill that space, to enable e-commerce and digital marketing for the entire industry, in Kenya and beyond.”
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