Online travel and expense management provider Serko has raised its profile sharply, listing on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and in installing a module resembling an aircraft interior at its Sydney headquarters to promote the Zeno platform, which it says is unlike anything else on earth.

Serko has been listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) since 2014 and claimed the title of fastest growing stock on the NZX in 2017.

Serko Limited is now dual-listed on the ASX under the ticker SKO.

Serko chief executive, Darrin Grafton said listing on the ASX had been a longtime ambition for Serko and represented a significant growth milestone.

“Nearly 10% of Serko’s shareholder base is in Australia and being dual-listed will give us access to a larger pool of investors.

“The dual-listing also provides closer alignment between our capital markets profile and our principal partner and customer base, as more than 90% of Serko’s revenue comes from Australia, with more than 70% of the corporate travel market using our platform.

Serko chief executive Darrin Grafton

“We are confident of continued growth in this market and are also undertaking global expansion initiatives, starting with the US and UK, both huge addressable markets.”

Grafton said the company was committed to its New Zealand investor base with Serko’s primary listing and headquarters remaining in New Zealand.

Serko, which provides SaaS online travel and expense technology to let organisations cost-effectively book and manage business travel and related expenses, says more than 6000 corporate entities, including 50 travel management companies, are using the system to book more that AUD 6 billion of corporate travel each year.

Which brings us to the Zeno Experience Centre at Serko’s Sydney headquarters. It resembles the interior of an aircraft. Serko describes it as “an innovation and brand hub for corporate travel managers to immerse themselves in new technologies for the travel and expense world”.

The corporate travel world, Serko points out, is undergoing an intensive period of change and development, with the adoption of technologies such as artificial intelligence, chatbots, and New Distribution Capability (NDC).

Zeno Experience Centre

“The Zeno Experience Centre is a physical space designed to help travel, procurement and finance leaders achieve a greater level of understanding of these disruptive technologies and gain insight into how they can add value to their corporate travel program.”

Grafton said the technology behind Zeno took three years to develop and “we know there’s truly nothing like it in the world”.

Zeno was in May granted Level 3 Certification by IATA for native support of NDC with Qantas, becoming the first travel and expense platform to achieve this level of accreditation. Serko says Zeno has transformed the way corporate customers around the world make and change travel arrangements, and in June more than 1.5 bookings per minute were made using the platform.

“We have set up the Zeno Experience Centre to provide our customers with the ability to test out this new technology in an inspiring environment, and to take innovative ideas back to their teams.”

“The Centre features the interior of a plane with video explanations of the ease of using the platform and the latest large format Microsoft Surface touch screen devices to allow customers to trial the technology.

“As well as providing seamless workflows for travellers and travel arrangers across approval, booking, payment and post-ticketing changes Zeno reduces the administration overhead of travel management.”

Written by Peter Needham