Nine milestones since 2009

June 25, 2018

Yesterday marked nine years since we started the eNett journey back in 2009. From day one, our aim has always been to shake up the industry by helping travel companies take the cost and complexity out of payments. And the proof is in the pudding, as the uptake for Virtual Account Number (VAN) technology has taken eNett from strength to strength.

From pitching an idea in the back of a taxi to Travelport, to expansion across the globe, we’ve come leaps and bounds. In honour of our ninth anniversary we wanted to take you on a journey through time, highlighting some our biggest milestones that contributed to eNett’s success.

1. Teaming up with Travelport

It’s strange to think that the birth of eNett took place in the back of a taxi. A ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity, the biggest milestone for eNett was my chance to pitch to the MD of Travelport for investment. He had travelled from London to Melbourne and had to cancel the meeting to catch a plane but agreed to meet in the back of his taxi! We signed a joint venture a few months later.

2. Going global

Once we got the funding, our next milestone was going for gold with global expansion. Starting in tiny no-frills offices in Melbourne and London, we’ve seen headcount increase from 15 to over 250 over the past nine years – with office hubs now in five major cities around the world.

3. Partnering with Mastercard

Mastercard and eNett formed a long term strategic partnership in 2014, signing an exclusive deal to work together to drive innovative B2B payment solutions specifically for the travel industry. This partnership helped drive eNett’s investment in our VAN technology stack that automatically generates unique 16-digit Mastercard numbers which are used by travel agencies to pay any suppliers who accept Mastercard online.

4. Hitting hyper-growth

Since our beginnings, the challenges we have overcome for our customers mean eNett has continued to grow steadily, and we’ve seen a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of an impressive 58.5% over the past five years. In 2017, eNett’s global net revenue increased by 29% YoY to USD194 million.

5. VANs has become a popular form of payment

According to eNett research conducted in 2016, VANs came in as the number one choice after traditional payment methods for travel companies, and predictions have stated that they may even overtake electronic fund transfers (EFT) and cheque payments over the next few years. This has led to eNett now being number one in international virtual card payments for the travel industry.

6. Scoring high on Net Promoter Score

Because of our key focus on customer experience, eNett has recorded a Net Promotor Score (NPS) of +37. NPS is a measure of the willingness of customers to recommend a company’s products or services to others. This score puts us alongside the likes of Trip Advisor (+44), Airbnb (+39) and Uber (+37) when it comes to customer advocacy.

7. Launching the CSR programme

In 2016, we launched our social responsibility programme ‘Repay the eNett Way’, an initiative aimed at giving back to the travel industry by helping disadvantaged communities affected by tourism. As well as company fundraising to support causes, the programme has also seen eNett volunteers travel to Cambodia, South Africa and this year Nepal, to get hands on in making a difference to the people living in disadvantaged townships.

8. Hitting an all-time high

eNett reached an important financial milestone in July 2017, highlighting the growing support for our VAN payment solution. The downside was that the entire eNett team got to see me do a choreographed dance routine to celebrate. Note to self: stop and think before making outlandish commitments to the team for when we reach our next big milestone.

9. A winning streak of industry awards

In 2017 the team celebrated an award-winning year taking home eight industry accolades. Year to date in 2018, we have added another four awards to our trophy cabinet. I think it’s safe to say that eNett would be one of the most recognised travel payments companies in the world at the moment, thanks to the amazing efforts of our team and our loyal customers.

eNett has come so far in the space of nine years, and smashing targets is what we do best. With our 10-year anniversary on the horizon, we are excited to see what a decade will mark, and I have no doubt our team will pull out all the stops to continue to deliver world-class customer service.

Why the Merchant Model with eNett VANs benefits all

I recently attended the 2020 Airline & Travel B2B Payments Summit Special in London and participated in a panel discussion on simplifying B2B Payments. It was great to catch up with industry peers and share my thoughts on the growing shift towards large travel agents adopting the merchant model. There are so many benefits from using this model – not just for travel agents but everyone in the travel value chain, including airlines and the end traveller.

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