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GoEuro: One destination, optimal transportation

by Forest Baskett, PhD and Rick YangAug 27, 2014

Two decades ago, planning a trip involved calling a travel agent and trusting them to book what you wanted. Today, anyone can go online and be inundated with options for flights, hotels, vacation deals, and more. Democratization of data through the Web means consumers have access to a practically limitless amount of information. This puts considerable power in the hands of individuals, but it also leads to a complex data optimization problem for consumers to match up the right set of variables across many different service providers. Many successful companies have been built to streamline that user experience.

This problem is magnified in Europe, where the widespread availability and variety of transit options can overwhelm the consumer. The available options of rail, bus, air and car provide great coverage but can make it even harder to find the best way to get from point A to point B. The task of simplifying this is a tall one, and it creates a profound market need.

Today we are excited to announce our Series A investment in GoEuro, the leading multi-mode travel platform across Europe. We join a distinguished set of early investors in the company to support an amazing team already well on their way to tackling this €200B-plus opportunity.

GoEuro operates at massive scale to deliver real-time data across seven countries, 20,510 railway stations, 10,011 bus stations, and 207 airports; and these numbers continue to grow every day. They do this through a complex and robust technology platform that normalizes, optimizes, and packages the data to deliver a clean and simple user experience for travelers. It’s the easiest way to book travel across multiple transit options in a single unified UI.

In addition, as we’ve come to know the company, the team’s focus on culture and diversity shines through. Every employee is welcomed into the company with equity ownership (which is uncommon in Germany) and free German classes every Friday. GoEuro has also taken its mission to build a global travel company to heart, with a team that hails from 23 different countries, comprising roughly 40% women. It definitely made for an exciting environment at the office during the World Cup!

GoEuro is another bright example in the NEA portfolio that the world has become a smaller, more connected place. We here at NEA are delighted to be partnering with Naren, Malte, and the rest of the team at GoEuro as they continue on their journey to build the next great travel company.

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About the Authors

Forest Baskett, PhD

Forest has been with NEA since 1999 and is currently a Special Partner focused on technology investing. He holds board positions at several private companies. During his time at NEA, he has seen many of his investments become public companies. Prior to NEA, Forest was Senior Vice President of R&D and Chief Technology Officer of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Before joining SGI, he founded and directed the Western Research Laboratory of Digital Equipment Corporation. He began his career as a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford.
Forest has been with NEA since 1999 and is currently a Special Partner focused on technology investing. He holds board positions at several private companies. During his time at NEA, he has seen many of his investments become public companies. Prior to NEA, Forest was Senior Vice President of R&D and Chief Technology Officer of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Before joining SGI, he founded and directed the Western Research Laboratory of Digital Equipment Corporation. He began his career as a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford.

Rick Yang

Rick joined NEA in 2007 and now heads the firm’s technology investing practice, focusing on fintech, consumer and AI application investments. In addition to holding board positions at several NEA portfolio companies, he also serves on the boards of the Stanford Department of Athletics’ investment fund and the Stanford Engineering Venture Fund. He is an All Raise VC Champion and a mentor for BLCK VC. Prior to joining NEA, Rick worked at Credit Suisse. He earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University, where he was also a member of the swim team.
Rick joined NEA in 2007 and now heads the firm’s technology investing practice, focusing on fintech, consumer and AI application investments. In addition to holding board positions at several NEA portfolio companies, he also serves on the boards of the Stanford Department of Athletics’ investment fund and the Stanford Engineering Venture Fund. He is an All Raise VC Champion and a mentor for BLCK VC. Prior to joining NEA, Rick worked at Credit Suisse. He earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University, where he was also a member of the swim team.