2018 was an eventful year for Boston startups -- Lola Travel Company would agree.
Last year, the travel startup, led by Kayak co-founder Paul English, hired a new CEO, clocked in 423 percent growth in annual travel bookings, 786 percent in revenue growth and added key executives to its sales and marketing teams and landed a big partnership with American Express Global Business Travel.
"Lola.com had an awesome year in 2018,” said CEO, Mike Volpe. "We have a great product and we are building a great team."
When the company was first founded in 2015, it was focused on improving consumer travel sites with a mobile app that combined AI with human travel agents. The company now sells corporate travel-management software to U.S. companies with fewer than 500 employees.
The startup's partnership with American Express Global Business Travel signed in November 2018 is poised to bring millions in revenue over the next five years. The two-way partnership enables American Express GBT will resell Lola.com's travel management software to its customers, and Lola.com will offer American Express GBT's wide range of travel deals and perks to its customers.
Commenting on the deal, Mike Volpe told Boston Business Journal earlier this year, "The list of people you want to partner within this industry starts and almost ends with them."
In addition to bringing in a new CEO to take over the reins, in 2018, Lola.com also hired HubSpot alumna Jeanne Hopkins as CMO and HubSpot sales alum Ryan Ball as vice president of sales. Looking ahead at 2019, Lola.com plans to double its headcount going from 60 people to 120. The company is hiring for roles in engineering, product management, sales and marketing.
