Travel booking system lures more capital

By PAULA OLIVER

A month after scooping the top prize in the Great New Zealand Business Venture competition, the creators of an internet travel booking system have captured significant investment from a Kiwi venture capital company.

Bookrite, an internet system that allows people to book travel activities on the web through a "book me" button, has attracted the interest of high-profile fund No 8 Ventures.

Bookrite director John Allen said the team was rapt to have secured the cash, which would be used to market the product locally and internationally.

"We've got an enormous opportunity to make the most of this before someone else comes along and jumps in," said Mr Allen. "We're now in a doing mode rather than a planning mode."

No 8 Ventures has taken a 36 per cent interest in Bookrite, with an option to increase that to 45 per cent in the next year.

Mr Allen said his team would be working closely with Morel Ventures director Peter Allport, bringing expertise and more industry contacts to the company.

Bookrite has a contract with Tourism Victoria in Australia, which will see the product attached to many Australian websites.

The contract aroused interest among Australian venture capitalists, and Mr Allen said the Bookrite team had been put in the pleasant position of being forced to decide between capital options.

"It's nice to keep it in New Zealand," he said. "Assuming we are successful, we would need more capital in the future to gain even broader expertise."