Israeli company TravelersBox, recently written about in "Globes", brought in a strategic partner this week. The company has developed machines to be placed in airports that enable travelers to deposit foreign currency in a PayPal account or to receive credit for it for purchases on eBay, iTunes, Skype, GAP, Starbucks, and even Aroma. Global Blue, the tax refund giant that operates in 43 countries, employs 1,700 people and carries out 100,000 money transactions daily, has announced a strategic investment of $500,000 in the Israeli start-up.
The total raised by TravelersBox thus amounts to $4.5 million. It could be that via this strategic investment, Global Blue is paving the way to a possible future acquisition of TravelersBox. The participants in the company's previous round were private investors, among them Yuval Tal, Zohar Gilon, Hagai Tal, and Ehud Levy, alongside Pitango Venture Capital and iAngels.
Tomer Zussman, Idan Deshe and Dror Blumenthal founded TravelersBox at the end of 2012. It operates machines in airports in Turkey, Italy, Georgia, and shortly in the Philippines.
"We were very happy to receive investment from Global Blue, chiefly because the investment's significance, making them a strategic partner. Our ability to install machines in airports around the world improves immediately. We have obtained valuable connections to international partners that work with Global Blue, and we have an excellent opening for introducing our new product, which we will launch soon. Ultimately, Global Blue has expressed interest and confidence in the product we developed and in our business concept, and that's exciting."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 11, 2015
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