CarTrawler expands travel ancillary offering with acquisition of Insurtech Koala

It marks the firm's expansion into other products

CarTrawler, B2B technology platform for car rental and mobility solutions, has announced it has acquired Koala, a Paris-based B2B travel insurtech business. 

The deal marks CarTrawler's strategic entry into the insurtech vertical as the company further expands its multi-product travel ancillary platform in response to growing partner demand for ancillary products, including integrated insurance offerings. 

Koala’s API-first technology and customer-centric approach are said to be a good fit for CarTrawler’s strengths and its plans to expand offerings beyond car rental and mobility. 

The new firm's insurtech options, ‘Cancel For Any Reason’ and automatic trip disruption cover are already used by more than 70 travel partners in 17 countries.

The car rental platform's partners will have access to flexible travel insurance products that are embedded directly into the booking flow and require minimal development effort while driving higher attach rates. 

CarTrawler’s data science and revenue optimisation capabilities, combined with Koala’s insurtech products, will help partners drive valuable ancillary revenue and improve their customers’ experience. 

“The demand for B2B travel ancillary solutions continues to increase, with our travel partners asking us to add these solutions to our offering,” said Peter O’Donovan, CEO of CarTrawler. 

“The acquisition of Koala is a further step toward fulfilling our ambition of becoming the leading multi-product ancillary platform for the global travel industry. 

"Koala’s product innovation and customer-centric approach make them a natural fit. Together, we’ll unlock more value for travel partners and travellers alike,” he said.