Airlines and Destinations has already mentioned HalalBooking. Halal is an Arabic word meaning lawful Or allowedbut generally refers to what is permitted by Islamic law. It’s the opposite of haraam , which means illegal or forbidden. Some things are very clearly halal or haram, however, like many religious laws, other things may be subject to interpretation.
Halal Booking completed a new round of successful angel investment in July 2023, which is the next round of Series B funding. As a result, the company has new cash of $2.5 million at a valuation at $102 million .
This amount is in addition to the $5 million convertible loan invested in 2021, which was converted into shares in Series B at a 20% discount to the original valuation. Thus, the total for the cycle currently stands at $7.5 million. The round is capped at a maximum amount of $10 million to be completed by the end of the year. This means an additional $2.5 million of margin is available to underwrite at the same valuation.
HalalBooking CEO Elnur Seyidli said: “This is a relatively small angel investment and the capitalization table of the business remains mostly under the ownership of the founders. This investment, in addition to the cash we generate through our stable 17% profit margin, will propel our growth in 2023-24 and help us be better positioned to reach our $1 billion unicorn business goal sooner. of dollars.
Institutional investors, who have been watching our growth closely since the pandemic, have a strong interest in this funding and we have the ambition to consider a larger institutional Series C round of $30-40m to further accelerate our growth rate. This would increase the likelihood of hitting the $1 billion goal in 3-4 years, rather than 6-7 years of additional organic growth. »
Indeed, the company is already experiencing significant growth in 2023 with a record month in July, reaching $10 million in sales, corresponding to a 45% growth compared to July 2022.
HalalBooking was launched in 2014 and grew exponentially without any venture capital funding, reinvesting its profits every year until the pandemic. In 2019, the company made $31 million in revenue. In 2020, due to the pandemic, sales dropped to $8 million, but the company managed to maintain its 50 employees. In 2021, HalalBooking bounces back to profitability, surpassing 2019 sales levels by reaching $36 million. In 2022, the level increased again by around 50% reaching $52 million. Based on current sales, the forecast for 2023 is expected to reach $75 million, representing another 45% year-over-year growth. This is despite numerous negative external conditions in the market, including the inflation crisis, expensive airfares and the earthquake in Turkey, one of its most popular destinations. The company is aiming for $600 million in sales in 4-5 years.
