 |
USA/TURKEY. TravelersBox – which provides airport kiosks allowing passengers to convert leftover foreign currency into usable digital currency – has raised US$10 million in Series A funding.
The round was led by venture capital firm Arbor Ventures, a new investor. Existing investors Pitango Venture Capital, IPE Ventures, Pereg Ventures, iAngels, Global Blue and others also participated. TravelersBox has now raised US$15.5 million to date.
As part of the financing round, Arbor Ventures’ Melissa Guzy will join the TravelersBox Board of Directors.
TravelersBox was launched in 2012 and its kiosks allow users to deposit foreign coins and bills directly into online accounts including PayPal, gift cards such as iTunes, Starbucks, Skype or Gap, or to make a charitable donation before leaving a country.
It currently operates more than 75 airport kiosks in Canada, Italy, Turkey, Georgia, Israel, the Philippines and Japan, and has facilitated several million transactions to date.
TravelersBox had its first North American launch at Toronto Pearson International Airport in December, and the company said its next deployments would be in Japan, India and New Zealand.
Some of the financing will be used to accelerate the development of a new software application that enables consumers to convert their change into digital currency in their home country when shopping at duty free shops and other airport-based retail outlets throughout the world.
The company also plans on deploying an additional 300 kiosks globally this year and will open an office in Asia.
“There are more than three billion international travellers every year, and our mission is to provide an easy way for those travellers to regain the lost value of their unused foreign currency,” said TravelersBox Founder and CEO Tomer Zussman.
“We have received a very positive reception in all the markets where we’ve launched our kiosks, and we are thrilled with this investment from Arbor and our participating backers, as it will allow us to grow more rapidly and continue innovating the currency exchange market.”
 |  |
Ten TravelersBox kiosks were placed at Toronto Pearson International in December | |
