Mystifly lands $8M to boost airline distribution tech

Mystifly , a specialist in airline distribution technology, has raised pre-Series B funding of $8 million.

Cornerstone Venture Partners, RSI Fund I and Jenfi & Crusade Partners were all involved in the investment in the Singapore-based company.

Mystifly, which was founded in 2009, enables travel intermediaries to access airfares via its application programming interface-driven technology as well as offering airlines a distribution, payment reconciliation and settlement platform.

Rajeev Kumar, founder and CEO of Mystifly, says: ”We are excited to welcome CSVP as an investor alongside our earlier investor RSI, and Jenfi & Crusade Partners as we expand Mystifly's reach. The pandemic has made us more resilient, and our investment in multi-source search, servicing and payments platform has resulted in a self onboarding enterprise-level air travel platform for airlines and travel intermediaries. We've rebuilt the digital plumbing lines for airlines and intermediaries, enabling them to adapt to today's e-commerce world.”

The latest funding will go toward further developing Mystifly’s data and technology capabilities including new hires in data and engineering.

The company unveiled its Azygos platform, a multi-source airline retailing solution, at The Phocuswright Conference last year, and has recently enhanced it with the ability to create a single order combining a traditional global distribution systems booking and a new distribution capability booking.

Kumar says Azygos now has a number of “top-tier customers in the process of going live,” driven in part by the announcement from American Airlines in December.

The carrier announced that travel intermediaries would need to be NDC-ready by April or face losing access to some content.

At the conference Kumar described the airline industry as undergoing a “tectonic shift” in terms of going from operating in silos and a previous reliance on a single source of content such as the GDS to accessing carrier inventory across systems and NDC direct connections and a more “holistic view.”

He also believes airlines are adapting to the changing landscape faster than ever before and sees opportunities for new entrants as well as greater innovation.

“The need to bring offer, order and payments was never seen in a holistic manner by the airlines. NDC addressed offer, and any initiative will have delays or failures while you only address one element without understanding the impact on the other two entities.”

Kumar also sees opportunities for artificial intelligence in airline distribution including in creating offers for customers on the fly with relevant ancillary services, price forecasting more effectively and in the use of traveler intent data.

Watch Kumar explain the Azygos platform at The Phocuswright Conference: