Booking a flight home should've been simple. But for Ferry Unardi, an Indonesian student in America, it was a constant logistical nightmare. 

Flights were complicated, agents charged high fees, and transparency was nonexistent. 

And that’s how Traveloka began. It was just an idea to simplify flight searches. 

But over the years, they grew into one of Southeast Asia’s leading travel platforms with over 100M downloads and 40M monthly active users.

Founded in 2015, they're the first tech startup to offer products and services outside their home country Indonesia. They grew to Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. They were last valued at about about $3B in 2020

This is the story of Traveloka.

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🇮🇩 Humble beginnings

Ferry Unardi grew up in Padang, Indonesia, helping out his parents in a small grocery store. 

He got the engineering bug as a teenager and moved on to study computer science at Purdue University.

After graduating, he joined Microsoft as a software engineer. But he always had a desire to solve bigger problems. 

He took a trip to China, where he stumbled upon the travel industry. 

But it wasn’t until trying to book a flight home to Indonesia that he found frustration.

The process was complicated and expensive, dominated by offline travel agents with sky-high fees. 

Ferry knew there was a better way.

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✈️ Taking flight

But he had no business experience at all and no idea how to run a company. 

So in 2012, Ferry made a bold decision: he left his stable Microsoft role and started his MBA at Harvard Business School. 

His plan was to complete his MBA so that he would gain the experience needed to be able to manage his company well. 

But, during his first semester, he realized the travel market in Indonesia was changing fast and felt like he needed to act now. 

The e-ticketing industry was gaining traction in Indonesia with companies like Tiket.com getting funding. He didn’t want to miss his chance!

So, he dropped out to co-found Traveloka, teaming up with his friends Derisetya Febrianto and Albert Zhang.

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🚀 Navigating turbulence

The startup launched as a flight metasearch engine, but the early days were tough. 

At the beginning, convincing Indonesians to pay online felt impossible. So, Traveloka collaborated with neighborhood banks and payment processors to offer multiple payment options.

Big airlines also ignored Traveloka. 

But Ferry believed in the power of offering a great service, saying, “Build a great service, and the people will come.” 

So, the company launched many innovative features to expand across Southeast Asia.

These include features such as PayLater, which allows installment-based payments.

By 2015, Traveloka had transformed from a flight search engine into a full-fledged online travel agency. 

But it was no easy task persuading investors to support an unproven business in Indonesia's travel sector.

So Ferry worked hard. His efforts paid off when Traveloka was able to raise around $500M from investors like Expedia, East Ventures, and more.

As Traveloka’s user base grew, so did their partnerships.

And when the pandemic hit, Traveloka adapted, expanding into food delivery and virtual events.

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⛅️ Reaching new altitudes

But scaling brought new hurdles. Competing with regional giants like Agoda and Booking.com meant constantly innovating and evolving. Ferry had to balance growth with maintaining company culture and identity.

Ferry focused on long-term value, adding features like PayLater and gamification to keep users engaged.

The company launched initiatives like Clean Partners. They collaborated with 9,800+ businesses to ensure health and safety during COVID, 

They also offered virtual tours to over 100,000 users through TravelokaXperience.

By 2021, Traveloka had expanded into financial services, offering gold investments and innovative payment options. 

They even partnered with the Indonesian government to launch COVID-19 testing and vaccination services, helping millions of people.

Today, Traveloka is one of Southeast Asia’s most valuable startups and a tech unicorn. They previously planned to IPO via a SPAC in 2021, but it was cancelled.

They last raised about $300M in 2022 and recently repaid their $300M private credit loan early. Is it a sign that big things are ahead? We’ll have to wait and see.