Wirtualna Polska Holding S.A. has become a minority shareholder in Teroplan S.A., the owner of the e-podróżnik.pl service. e-podróżnik.pl is the biggest Polish platform facilitating travel planning and online purchase of bus and train tickets. WP paid PLN 7.7 million for a 13% stake in the company.
The e-podróżnik.pl service offers the possibility of purchase of bus and train tickets from over 400 domestic and international carriers. The service facilitates daily travel, providing Poland’s biggest timetable comprising over 1,200 carriers. More than 3 million passengers use e-podróżnik.pl every month.
– We consistently pursue the strategy of developing strong e-commerce companies in Grupa WP. The investment in e-podróżnik.pl, unquestionable leader in the online bus ticket sales, also supports the execution of GWP’s mission, i.e. helping Poles in making daily decisions, including those pertaining to purchases – says Grzegorz Kruk, Wirtualna Polska Holding S.A. e-commerce vice-president.
Wirtualna Polska bought a 10% stake held by Giza Polish Ventures – a venture capital fund supported by the capital of Krajowy Fundusz Kapitałowy SA from PFR’s group – and subscribed for 3% shares of Teroplan S.A. in a new issue. A majority stake in Teroplan S.A. will continue to be held by the company’s founders. The company will invest the proceeds from the new issue in the development of the platform in Poland and abroad.
– We want to attract further carriers and partners. Each of them may cooperate with us on several levels. We help them manage ticket sales and optimize revenues through dynamic price calculation depending on the demand. We are happy that thanks to WP’s investment we will be able to better develop our services, using the know-how of a leader in the e-commerce industry in Poland – says Andrzej Soroczyński, President of the Teroplan S.A. Management Board.
Teroplan S.A. is a company introducing numerous technological inventions for the passenger transport industry. Among other things, it is executing a system which will automate the route and price planning and vehicle management processes. The project fits into the latest global trends in application of artificial intelligence in the management and use of information contained in big data.
The parties to the agreement have defined WP’s rights regarding the rules of execution of a possible transaction involving the sale of a control stake in Teroplan S.A. in the future and the rules of WP’s participation in this process. Teroplan S.A. and the GPV I FIZAN (Giza Polish Ventures) fund were advised by: CC Group, as the transaction advisor, and Chabasiewicz Kowalska i Partnerzy Law Firm from Kraków, as the legal advisor.
Wirtualna Polska is a media and e-commerce holding group. It owns WP and o2 horizontal portals and runs specialist thematic sites. In the e-commerce industry, WP’s is active in the tourism, fashion, interior and home design, financial services and automotive sectors. According to a Gemius/PBI survey, more than 22 million Poles used WP’s internet products in February 2019.
Teroplan S.A. is a Kraków-based company operating in the new technologies industry. Since 2008, its team of top-class IT engineers has been providing innovative and comprehensive solutions for public transport. Cooperation with over 1,000 carriers has enabled the company to gain experience and expertise on developing such tools as, for example, online sales systems, dynamic pricing tariffs or interconnecting tariffs, required for effective competition for travelers. Outside Poland, Teroplan offers its services in the Serbian and Ukrainian market.
Teroplan is the author and owner of the e-podróżnik.pl portal – Poland’s biggest search engine for domestic and international timetables for: coaches, trains and city transport – over 1,200 transportation companies. Passengers may use the service to buy tickets online from over 400 domestic and international carriers, providing, among others, door-to-door transport services. It is the only search engine in Poland to show connections with any number of changes, between different types of means of transport. The service makes it possible to plan your journey from one address to another (door-to-door), using both public long-distance transport (road and rail) and city transport. e-podróżnik.pl is among top five Internet travel portals in Poland. It is visited by over 3 million passengers per month. The website is available in many language version, including English, German, Czech, Ukrainian and Russian.