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Perk (formerly TravelPerk) opens Edinburgh office, creating jobs and betting on the city as a business travel hub

4 MIN READ

  • Perk (formerly TravelPerk) will open a new Edinburgh office this week, creating more than 30 jobs this year and more in 2023
  • The new office makes Edinburgh Perk’s third hub in the UK and represents a bet on Edinburgh as a major tech hub and business travel centre for the UK in 2022 and beyond
  • Perk continues to grow rapidly across the UK following the acquisition of Click Travel last year
Barcelona and Edinburgh, Wednesday 8th June: Perk , the largest global travel management platform, has today announced the opening of its new office in Edinburgh this week, making the city its third hub in the UK alongside London and Birmingham.
10 people are already working in Scotland but with the opening of the new Perk hub, the company is aiming to add hundreds of jobs to the city over the coming years, beginning with an additional 30 employees before the end of 2022. The hub will be focused on developing a centre of excellence for software engineering asPerk has Scotland firmly in its sights as a major tech hub. The recent decentralisation of workers from London and other major hubs has seen an uplift in workers moving to Edinburgh.
Perk is committed to its ongoing growth in Edinburgh as a major business travel hub. Edinburgh Airport is Scotland’s busiest airport, with over 14 million passengers coming through each year. The airport serves 37 airlines that fly to over 150 destinations worldwide. Often referred to as “the place where Scotland meets the world”, the airport represents a portal to international business for companies based in the country.
According to Perk’s data, business travel in Scotland currently sits at ~95% of pre-pandemic levels, with Edinburgh Airport itself seeing a +5% rate of growth as compared to 2020 Q1. Perk data also shows that Edinburgh is seeing a quicker rate of recovery than other major capital cities such as London, Berlin or Madrid.
Perk has recently achieved major milestones growing its expansion in the UK market by the acquisition of Click Travel , the UK’s largest business travel provider, making Perk the biggest platform globally. Perk also recently raised $115 million in an extension of its Series D funding round making the company a unicorn.
Vicki Williams, UK Country Manager at Perk, said:
"The pandemic has changed travel patterns and Edinburgh has benefited from that. Opening a hub in the city was the obvious decision to fuel Perk’s hypergrowth trajectory, and further showcases our clear commitment and belief in the city as a key business travel hub in the UK. Our data backs this up, showing a strong travel recovery in Edinburgh compared with other European capitals.
“With this new office, we are fulfilling our mission to create in-person connections by bringing people together sustainably and enjoyably in real life. This office will allow us to bring in some of the best talent to help us grow and scale our business worldwide.”
Ross Mcnairn, CPTO at Perk, said:
“Edinburgh has warmly nurtured multiple unicorns in the past so we feel in good company.
It’s a city with a phenomenally talented workforce, superb universities and an exceptional quality of life. Combine that with the growing political intent to make the city more appealing to technology companies and Edinburgh was a natural home for our next engineering hub.”
-ENDS-
About Perk
Perk is the next-generation business travel platform pioneering the future of business travel. Perk’s all-in-one platform gives travelers the freedom they want whilst providing companies with the control they need. The result is saved time, money, and hassle for everyone.
Perk has the world’s largest travel inventory alongside powerful management features, 24/7 customer support, state-of-the-art technology and consumer-grade design, all of which are enabling companies and organizations worldwide such as TransferWise, Skyscanner, Revolut, Monzo, Farfetch and US rugby association, to get the most out of their travel.
Backed by world-class investors like DST, Kinnevik, Target Global, Felix Capital, Greyhound Capital, Spark Capital, Heartcore, LocalGlobe, Amplo, 14W—investors in some of the most disruptive companies in tech including Zalando, Slack, Trello, Twitter, Farfetch and Delivery Hero — Perk is reinventing business travel with an end-to-end solution that works. Visit www.travelperk.com for more information.