Backing the People Who Power Travel
Investing in Tern, Welcoming Viewpoint Ventures and Haystack in the Series A
We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming about hard tech to talk about vertical market software and the travel industry.
Sometimes, a team is so dialed that you have no choice but to back them.
I first met Katie Williams, co-founder of Tern, at a founder dinner hosted by our friends Garrett and Jess. It was supposed to be a casual evening, but midway through the night, I found myself in an impromptu fireside chat with Garrett about fundraising in a down market. (It was 2022.)
I spoke to many people that night, but as the evening was winding down, Garrett pulled me aside to say: “Katie is fantastic. You should back her company.”
He didn’t know what Katie was working on. But he knew her work at Handshake, the company he co-founded, where Katie worked for five and a half years. Garrett also said that her co-founder David was exceptional and that the two of them were capable of accomplishing anything together.
Naturally, when a CEO goes out of his way to recommend investing in people who left his company, you pay attention.
Tern co-founders David Shull, Brian Reath, and Katie were all key early team members at Handshake. David was the first employee and launched multiple core business lines and international markets before leaving to start Tern. Brian was a technical leader responsible for both engineering and sales. Katie built and scaled the customer success function before leading operations at Signal Advisors.
They’ve seen the journey from inception to scale, and they possess both technical and commercial experience in building industry-defining software. With their sights set on travel, Upfront couldn’t be more excited to have partnered with them for their next act.
Travel Advisors are the Industry’s Heart
At first glance, the travel industry can appear to be a never-ending stream of people and organizations that get in the way of a traveler's trip. The complex web of suppliers, advisors, host agencies, consortia, online travel agencies (OTAs), and wholesalers all seem to be out for their little share of the traveler’s wallet.
Startup after startup has tried to cut out the middleman and connect travelers and suppliers directly. Many have tried—and failed—to cut out travel advisors specifically. Often seen as “agents” that simply execute on behalf of their clients, advisors have been attacked by AI tools, OTAs, and every version of software imaginable.
So why did US travel advisors book over $100B+ of travel in 20231 alone?
As we dug into this ecosystem with the Tern team, the reality became clear. Travel advisors aren’t middlemen; they are the heart and soul of the travel ecosystem. Travel advisors are trusted experts and curators of experiences, often serving as the only access to certain types of travel. They know how to navigate boutique hotels, boat charters, safaris, and family trips across four countries, all while taking your family’s specific needs and preferences into account.
Travel is a deeply personal experience, and travel advisors take crafting the perfect trip personally. They love the industry, love their work, and love their clients. It is a relationship business, and it turns out travelers care about their relationships with advisors. They are voting with their wallets and spending more with advisors every year.
Eliminating the Invisible Work
Unfortunately, like many relationship management and service-oriented jobs, travel advisors run their businesses by juggling spreadsheets, PDFs, multiple CRMs, commission tracking tools, accounting services, and more. Of course, none of these systems talk to each other. That’s where Tern comes in.
Tern consolidated the mess of disconnected systems into a single platform for proposals, payments, itineraries, CRM, invoicing, marketing, and more. They’re launching major new features every month. From agentic AI tools that eliminate data entry to one-click invoices that comply with state and international regulations, Tern users now have access to the best in modern software.
The result? In just two years, Tern is now used by over 5,000 advisors and 1,000+ agencies. Tern advisors spend up to 75% less time on administrative work and more time focused on what matters: crafting unforgettable trips for their clients.
A Partnership and a Warm Welcome
In backing Tern, we’re not betting against the travel advisor — we’re betting on them. Tern believes advisors deserve best-in-class tools and that with them, they can build better relationships with their clients and design more magical trips. We believe Tern is the team to make those tools.
I’m thrilled to congratulate the Tern team today on their $13M Series A led by Viewpoint Ventures and Haystack. We’re proud to have made the first investment into the company in 2023 and to continue our support in this next chapter.
I’m also excited to welcome Drew Aldrich and the Viewpoint team to the board. Viewpoint is a thesis-led firm that believes in the power of travel advisors and their importance to this industry. They are a perfect match for the kind of human-first, customer-centric software company Tern is building.
To the travel advisor community: this platform is being built for you. Tern exists to eliminate the invisible work that has slowed you down for too long. And we’re just getting started.
Let’s go!
https://www.phocuswright.com/Travel-Research/Market-Overview-Sizing/US-Travel-Agency-Landscape-2024