Travel tech company Snowfall is relaunching as Junction in
what it says is a ¡°full reset of the business¡±, with some of its operations understood to have been liquidated.
Sign up for more...
News ? analysis ? podcasts ? reports
I accept the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.
The company, whose difficulties have been documented in recent
months, said its major long-term investor, Korelya Capital, was helping to fund the
relaunch, while other unspecified ¡°existing and new investors¡± are also
providing support.
As part of its relaunch, Junction announced the appointment
of deputy CEO, Herv¨¦ Gilg, former managing director and partner of turnaround
and transformation consultants Alvarez & Marsal. In addition, Matthew
Turner of investment firm Triton joins the company as chairman of the board.
BTN Europe has been told by multiple sources that Snowfall¡¯s operations in Canada
have been liquidated as part of the 'reset', with employees having gone unpaid since July last year. Meanwhile, redundancies have also been made in the UK with remaining staff now employed by a new entity. Several former employees have posted in public forums or informed BTN Europe that they are still owed both salary and pension payments. Junction did not respond to BTN Europe's request for further information on the matter.
In a recent interview with BTN Europe, the company's CEO Stefan
Cars addressed accusations of missed salary payments and poor management,
claiming the company ¡°was back on track¡±. Those claims were subsequently refuted
by a group of employees, who provided details of outstanding salaries to employees
in various locations and of other financial irregularities.
The company said in a statement posted on its new website
today that the Junction name, as that of its content distribution marketplace, has ¡°been
synonymous with seamless connections and innovative solutions, serving as the
backbone of Snowfall¡¯s product offering.¡±
It continued: ¡°Now, the name represents the entire organisation,
reflecting the company¡¯s dedication to the singular mission of enabling
multimodal travel seamlessly and through one innovative travel-tech platform.¡±
Junction also named Chinese tech company Oppo and ferry operator
Ragusa Xpress as new customers but did not provide details on the future of its
online booking tool Junction One.
Stefan Cars added: ¡°It is a fragmented ecosystem of disparate
travel methods and technologies. In our 20-plus years, we have made great
technological leaps, we have often ¡®failed fast¡¯ and, most importantly, learned
a lot. It¡¯s a bold new chapter
that builds on our strong foundation, positioning us to lead the future of
multimodality in travel.¡±