Rome2rio is an Australian online

multimodal transport Multimodal transport (also known as combined transport) is the transportation of goods under a single contract, but performed with at least two different modes of transport; the carrier is liable (in a legal sense) for the entire carriage, even th ...

journey planner A journey planner, trip planner, or route planner is a specialized search engine used to find an optimal means of travelling between two or more given locations, sometimes using more than one transport mode. Searches may be optimized on different ...

offering traveling services globally. The company is based in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropol ...

. It is owned by the German online travel comparison and booking website

Omio GoEuro Travel GmbH, doing business as Omio, formerly known as GoEuro, is a German online travel comparison and booking website based in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 2013 as GoEuro by Naren Shaam. Omio employs more than 300 people and is acti ...

History

Rome2rio was founded by Bernhard Tschirren and Dr. Michael Cameron, two ex-

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

software engineers. The site was born out of their frustrations with the lack of a fast, easy-to-use, and comprehensive multi-modal search engine with global coverage. The two co-founders began work on the product in September 2010 and won the Melbourne Azure Bizspark Camp Award in February 2011. The beta version of Rome2rio was launched on 7 April 2011. Rod Cuthbert, founder of Viator, became CEO in May 2012 as the company raised $450,000. Rome2rio won the People's Choice Award at Phocuswright 2012, the TRAVELtech Global Collect Website of the Year in 2013, the Data Specialist Award at the 2015 WITovation Awards and the Best Metasearch Award at the 2016 Travolution Awards. The company raised $2.8 million in funding including a 2014 grant of $1.2 million from Commercialization Australia. In July 2015, it announced that support for its

white label product A white-label product is a product or service produced by one company (the producer) that other companies (the marketers) rebrand to make it appear as if they had made it. The name derives from the image of a white label on the packaging that ca ...

would cease in January 2016, citing pressure on development resources brought on by rapid growth in its consumer business. The company initially offered both

white-label product A white-label product is a product or service produced by one company (the producer) that other companies (the marketers) rebrand to make it appear as if they had made it. The name derives from the image of a white label on the packaging that ca ...

s and

application programming interface An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how t ...

options for partners wishing to integrate its multi-modal results into web sites and mobile apps. In 2016, the company added direct booking options. In April 2017, Rod Cuthbert became Executive Chairman, Michael Cameron became CEO and Bernie Tschirren was made Chief Architect. Kirsteene Phelan became COO. In November 2017, Rome2rio moved to a new headquarters in Richmond, Melbourne's digital quarter. In July 2019, Craig Penfold joins the company as Chief Technology Officer. In October 2019, Rome2rio was acquired by

, the Berlin-based travel booking platform. In January 2020, Yeswanth Munnangi (Yesh) took over as CEO of Rome2rio, and Michael Cameron joined the board of directors.

References

{{Travel ticket search engines 2019 mergers and acquisitions Australian travel websites Cartography Companies based in Melbourne Intermodal transport Internet properties established in 2011 2011 establishments in Australia Internet search engines Public transport information systems Route planning websites Travel ticket search engines International multimodal travel search engines