Faye raises $31 million Series B for fintech platform for travelers

Travel startup Faye announced on Tuesday that it has raised $31 million in Series B funding, bringing the company’s total funding to $49M. The round was led by Portage, with participation from Lumir Ventures, along with existing investors F2 Venture Capital, Viola Ventures and Munich Re Ventures.

Full list of Israeli high-tech funding rounds in 2024

This is Faye's second fundraising round in the last 12 months. The company, which was ranked first in Calcalist's Top 50 Most Promising Israeli startups for 2024, employs 70 people, including 30 in Virginia, USA, where its American headquarters are located. The company expects to end the year with about 100 employees, having started the year with around 30.

Faye co-founders.

Since launching its app to American travelers in 2022, Faye has continued to expand its offering, which currently includes travel insurance that provides comprehensive coverage, 24/7 assistance and companionship for anything that can go wrong in-trip; real-time trip monitoring and alerts as well as fast fintech solutions to enable payments, reimbursements and savings for trips.

In a conversation with Calcalist, Elad Schaffer, CEO and co-founder of Faye, stated that the company did not urgently need the funding but seized a unique opportunity. "Although we have competition, our competitors are seasoned players, and no other startup is doing anything similar to us. We want to invest much more in our growth. We grew 10 times in annual revenue from March last year to this March. I expect that within two years from now we will reach $100 million in revenue. We wanted to invest heavily in growth, which made it very easy to recruit and fortify our unique position in a market that is a gold mine and has not seen significant progress. Most Americans are not aware of travel insurance, and our competitors haven't tapped into this field because they don't understand it.

"We are much more than an insurance company. We are a complete platform for travelers, addressing various problems they may face. We focus on the consumer rather than the business traveler. We aim to solve issues such as finding flights, handling lost passports, arranging transportation to hospitals, informing relatives, and more. Another layer is a financial one; we have a digital wallet to pay claims immediately. I hope it will soon be your means of payment abroad. All the new products complement each other."

Faye is the second startup founded by travel enthusiasts Elad Schaffer (CEO) and Daniel Green (CTO). The company was established during the COVID-19 period with initial investment from the F2 Venture Capital and has continued to grow since then. In the coming months, Faye plans to focus and invest in further growth, developing new products, and expanding operations in the fields of insurance, travel, and fintech.

Faye has made additional enhancements to its platform since its Series A round last year, including: pre-trip essentials so travelers know the vaccine, health mandates and even plug type per destination; telemedicine access to over 20K doctors worldwide along with the ability to schedule in-person, home or hotel visits when you’re unwell in-trip; app recommendations to travel like a local; emergency numbers to access and much more.