Meili targets 100 airlines by 2027 as €25M-backed travel firm plots expansion
What's the deal? MeiliDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Dublin-based travel technology firm, aims to reach 100 airline customers by the end of 2027, roughly doubling its current base of 50. The company, founded in 2021 by Mike McGearty and Bobby Healy, has 50 staff and has raised €25 million to date.
What's the endgame? Meili sells software that plugs directly into an airline's website, offering car rental options tied to a customer's flight. It draws on airlines' direct relationships with rental firms and layers in loyalty profiles, cutting out the intermediary model that has long dominated travel bookings.
Why now? McGearty says airlines are shifting towards the direct model his firm champions. "We're seeing now that the adoption in the market is accelerating towards the direct model we're offering," he said. Meili went live with Alaska AirlinesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → as its most recent client.
The expansion: Meili plans to grow internationally over the coming year, with Latin America a target market. State agency Enterprise Ireland is backing that push, helping the firm research markets where its own resources are thin. "As a smaller business, we don't have unlimited resources, so they were able to support us with their people in the market," McGearty said.
What's next for the product? Beyond car rental, Meili wants to add hotel bookings and other services, driven by data and stakeholder feedback. The moves are meant to widen its footprint on airline sites and deepen customer relationships as it chases the 2027 target.
McGearty and Healy — the latter also founder of drone firm Manna — previously worked together at CarTrawler, where the idea for Meili took shape. "We understood that there's a lot of friction out there for customers," McGearty said. "We were sitting back with time to spare thinking about building a global business that could fix some of that."
The signal: Meili's growth reflects a broader move in travel away from third-party intermediaries towards direct, airline-owned booking experiences — a shift that, if it holds, reshapes how ancillary services like car rentals reach travellers.
Read more: businesspost.ie
Image credit: Meili Travel Technology
