Irish company CarTrawler acquires Paris-based insurance firm

Peter O’Donovan: 'The acquisition of Koala is a further step toward fulfilling our ambition of becoming the leading multi-product ancillary platform for the global travel industry."

Irish technology firm CarTrawler, which provides platforms for car rental and other mobility options to the global travel industry, has announced the acquisition of Paris-based firm Koala.

Koala specialises in travel insurance technology solutions as well as offering more traditional travel insurance products across a network of over 70 partners in 17 countries.

This acquisition marks CarTrawler’s strategic entry into the “insurtech” travel segment and further expands its multi-product ancillary platform.

Chief executive of CarTrawler Peter O’Donovan said the acquisition of Koala is a “further step toward fulfilling our ambition of becoming the leading multi-product ancillary platform for the global travel industry”.

CarTrawler’s technology, the Connect Platform, is used by airlines, online travel agents, hotels and travel providers in the world including United Airlines, Air France KLM, Uber, American Airlines, easyJet, and American Express.

It is headquartered in Dublin and has a team of over 300 employees.

The company generated revenue of €172m during its 2023 financial year.

The company claimed that its earnings before earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation is up over 20% in the nine months to the end of June this year, “reflecting an acceleration in business momentum, a stable car rental pricing environment, and a healthy new partnership pipeline”.