How Startup Kiwi.com Grew from 2 Founders to 500+ Employees

Imagine starting up a business with your co-founder in a basement only to find yourself four years later with over 500 employees from 55 nationalities across the world. 

And offering the world some of the lowest cost airfares out there.

This is the story of Czech-based Kiwi.com (formerly Skypicker), who have been gaining momentum in the online travel agency (OTA) market. One of our missions at Travel Massive is to unearth and support new ideas and innovation in the travel industry, so we’re super proud to have these guys in our community.

In this sponsored article, we asked Michal Majnuš to share the story of Kiwi.com’s epic rise.

What is the concept of Kiwi.com?

Kiwi.com is an online travel agency using an advanced algorithm to provide customers the best possible flight options at the cheapest prices.

How does it work?

Kiwi.com combines flight options from airlines across the world that have never been combined before. Due to the competitive nature of the airline industry, this hasn’t been something that any online travel agency has been able to do before.

This means that you can book a flight from Paris to New York combining different airlines (competitors or not) at the cheapest possible price.

How did Kiwi.com grow from a team of 2 to over 500 employees?

So you’ve heard of Skypicker (now Kiwi.com), you get that they compare and offer some of the cheapest flights across the world, but how on earth did they go from 2 members to 560 members in less than four years?

“We had a unique idea and tapped into a market that hadn’t been offered before.”

There are more than 600 different operating airlines of which only a part of them are in partnerships. A lot of the smaller (often lower cost) airlines that don’t have the opportunity to partner with the big airlines also don’t get the opportunity to be offered as flight options on larger search engine portals.  Ultimately meaning that you as a customer aren’t getting the cheapest possible flights. Bummer, right?

“So Kiwi.com offers something that no one can deny is quite practical and awesome.”

Whether you’re planning a luxury vacation or a budget backpackers adventure, who doesn’t love saving a few extra bucks? In a recent review, German magazine FOCUS wrote:

“Kiwi.com is on average 28% cheaper than the competition”

We’ve also seen savings as high as 90% in some cases.

Why the new name?

As fantastic as the name Skypicker has been for the company, it’s time for a change. Skypicker represents an online search engine that compares some of the lowest cost airlines in the world, but what it doesn’t represent is more than just airlines.

While we’d love to tell you more about this, that’s for you to wait and find out. We’ll be announcing more news over on Kiwi.com.

Who names a search engine after a fruit?

People who believe in a global approach. That’s who.

Kiwi.com is not named after the fruit, or the flightless bird, or the people of New Zealand, but instead it is a new meaning to the word that already has so many meanings. Kiwi.com has been proudly designed with a catchy name that embodies a platform filled with more than just one awesome feature, but a magnitude of unbeatable prices on more than just airfares.

How can people find out more?

Head on over to Kiwi.com for more information, and keep an ear out for future announcements about other products and savings the company is working on. Learn even more about Kiwi.com over on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

This content is sponsored and helps us to support our community. Thanks Kiwi.com!