A London-based travel industry technology startup has revealed four senior leadership hires with a wealth of experience at leading technology and travel businesses including Google, Airbnb and Checkout.com.
Impala is an API platform which allows hotels and room sellers to work together directly to negotiate bespoke commercial terms, allowing room sellers to access any hotel in the world and onboard them in under 48 hours.
It bills itself as the travel platform of choice for startups looking to move into new markets and large tech companies looking to move into travel.
New VP of sales Leigh Jenkinson (pictured) was formerly at Google, while sales operations director Patrick Heaphy has worked with travel businesses including Airbnb.
Polly Marshall joins as product marketing director from Checkout.com, one of Europe’s most significant tech companies of the last decade, while director of demand generation Matt Antos-Lewis comes from security solutions provider Verkada.
The appointments come after significant exec hires in 2021, including Lionel Paillet who joined as COO from Apple and Nest, where he previously headed sales for Apple in 15 European countries during the company’s exponential growth.
Caroline Hudack joined as CMO from Airbnb, where she led marketing for Europe after more than three years in several senior global marketing roles at Facebook.
“We’re on a steep growth trajectory at Impala on our mission to reimagine the world of travel and enable business models that have been impossible for decades,” said Impala CEO Ben Stephenson.
“We’re assembling a best-in-class team in travel and tech to do this and are incredibly excited by the new hires we have on board.
“Our new senior leaders will help us to lead the charge in simple and efficient travel solutions, breaking down the walls of old tech, and providing new opportunities for the travel sector.”
The firm has backing from Lakestar, Kima Ventures, Stride VC and Latitude – VCs which backed Airbnb, Trivago and Deliveroo.