Mondee Draws Funding from Travelport Owners for SPAC Deal

Travel technology consortium Mondee has attracted an additional $20 million in investment toward going public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company Ithax Acquisition Corp.

The additional investment, on top of the $50 million announced earlier this year, brings the total private investment in public equity total for the merger to $70 million. While Ithax and Mondee, whose portfolio consists of both leisure- and corporate-focused brands including Rocketrip, did not identify the investors in the press release of the investment, the Financial Times on Sunday reported the investors were hedge fund Elliott Management and Siris Capital, also the owners of Travelport.

While the number of SPAC transactions soared in recent years—including several in the travel industry, such as American Express Global Business Travel, Cvent and Wheels Up—the Financial Times noted the market for them has slowed amid poor performance of some of the deals and increased regulatory pressure, making funding for the deals harder to come by. To date this year, 21 SPAC merger deals have been dropped, compared with just three over the same period in 2021, according to the Financial Times.

“Generating significant additional investment in our transaction in an all-equity PIPE at $10 during such a challenging environment for SPAC and PIPE transactions underlines the strength of Mondee as a compelling travel tech investment,” Ithax CEO Orestes Fintiklis said in a statement. “Mondee is a proven performer in the travel tech space with, we believe, a great runway to grow both organically and through mergers and acquisitions to further seize market share.”

Michael B. Baker  www.businesstravelnews.com