USA/INTERNATIONAL. Servy, the travel dining and retail hospitality self-service platform, has been acquired by GrayMatter, a leading technology company based in Bangalore, India.
Founded in 2014, Servy has a presence at more than 80 airports across the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific through leading omnichannel airport ecommerce platform Grab and other solutions including Order@ and Servy Marketplace.
GrayMatter works to enhance passenger experiences and boost airport ancillary revenues through its technology products and consulting services.
The acquisition is designed to boost the Servy network and extend the reach of its self-service solutions within the travel hospitality sector and wider hospitality markets.
The partnership with GrayMatter will “strengthen Servy’s ability to digitise travellers’ complete non-aeronautical experience by leveraging GrayMatter’s leading expertise in analytics and artificial intelligence”, the partners said.
With Servy’s roots in the US and Europe and GrayMatter’s reach in South America and Asia Pacific, the partners said this acquisition is a step towards creating “a global, market-leading solution that will elevate airport non-aeronautical revenue to new heights thereby positively impacting travellers and airports worldwide”.
Servy Founder and Chief Experience Officer Jeff Livney said: “I first want to thank all of our stakeholders including our airport partners, developers, concessionaires and shareholders for their continued support since the launch of Servy in 2014.
“Over the past decade, we have seen our proposition grow from launching at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in 2015 to serving more than 80 airports worldwide. Our acquisition by GrayMatter is the next chapter in our story, and I’m excited to see what the future holds.
“GrayMatter’s deep domain expertise in the airport commercial space allows us to deliver consistently high standards of service, adapt to the ever-evolving needs of our customers, and enhance travel hospitality at a global scale.”
GrayMatter Founder and CEO Vikas Gupta said: “We are excited to welcome the Servy team into the GrayMatter family. Our products and expertise in managing non-aeronautical revenue streams will significantly enhance value for Servy’s customers.
“We are committed to substantially improving the passenger experience by enabling them to manage their entire journey on their mobile devices and drive non-aeronautical revenue for developers, airport operators, and concessionaires. Together with the Servy team, we will advance innovation, deliver superior products, and provide prompt technical and operational support, ensuring significant value to our customers and partners.”
Collinson Group was a Servy investor from early 2020 and remains a key partner.
Collinson Investments CEO David Evans said: “We have been a strategic partner of Servy, through the Collinson Airport Alliance since February 2020, and over that time, we have seen the brand grow from strength to strength. I’m excited to see how the next stage of their growth evolves under the tenure of GrayMatter, and we have every confidence that their combined capabilities will serve the needs of both travellers and airports alike.”
Speaking to The Moodie Davitt Report about the move, Livney said it offered Servy a strong “technology backbone” with the GrayMatter team bringing deeper resource knowledge and engineering talent to Servy. GrayMatter can offer a team of around 200 engineers compared to Servy’s ten, with around the clock services for partners worldwide.
Crucially, Livney noted that partnering with GrayMatter would help extend Servy’s services well beyond food & beverage – allowing it to offer solutions across airport commercial programmes from retail to lounges to car parking – against a backdrop of demand from airport and concessionaire clients.
One example of this is Servy’s partnership with Airport Dimensions’ revenue growth and customer engagement platform Connecta to track and analyse shopping behaviour and engage consumers with real-time loyalty and marketing incentives at Los Angeles International Airport last year. This solution aimed to drive incremental revenue to airports and their concessionaires.
This wider view of the airport commercial opportunity chimes with GrayMatter’s Skateboard product, a digital airport platform offering seamless travel solutions with ecommerce and entertainment features, launched initially at Kempegowda Bengaluru International Airport.
Vikas Gupta also hailed the opportunity to “take the entire airport online” and how the partnership could help overcome the fragmented experience that many travellers face today with multiple service providers across the eco-system.
Livney concluded: “We are really excited for some of the upcoming expansions and developments that, together Servy and GrayMatter can bring to the market.” ✈
