Skift Take
Some investors are hesitant to fund startups in places experiencing currency volatility, but Triply overcame that challenge while consolidating payment tools for smaller travel businesses.
You finally found the perfect hotel for your upcoming trip. You check the total in U.S. dollars and input your credit card information. Booked. Easy, right?
For travel businesses and travelers in Africa, the experience isn’t always that simple. Triply Co-founder and CEO Peter Wachira said some booking companies do not account for the cultural and economic differences in many African countries.
For example, M-PESA, a popular mobile money service for Kenya, isn’t compatible with some booking platforms. And the Kenyan shilling’s value can have big swings against the U.S. dollar.
Wachira and his co-founder Collins Muthinja needed to consider where travelers in Kenya and other African countries come from: mostly through offline channels and social commerce. With 56% of hospitality expenditure in Africa coming from the countries’ domestic visitors in 2019, travel platforms need to cater to these audiences.
This is where Wachira’s Triply, previously Tri