A travel website that helps people move around Europe has just raised $70 million

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GoEuro Naren Shaam

YouTube/DW English

GoEuro founder Naren Shaam.

GoEuro, a travel platform that allows customers to search and book trains, buses and flights across Europe, has raised $70 million (£54 million) in a bid to accelerate product development and growth.

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The funding round, led by Silver Lake Kraftwerk and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is one of the biggest European funding rounds of 2016 so far.

It comes less than a year after GoEuro raised a $45 million (£35 million) round and total investment in the company now stands at $146 million (£113 million). Other investors in the four-year-old startup include Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, as well as venture capital firms Atomico, Battery Ventures, Lakestar, and NEA.

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Headquartered in Berlin, GoEuro's 180 employees are aiming to unify and standardise Europe's ground transportation to make it more like the air industry.

The company claims that its platform allows customers to book the fastest, cheapest and best travel options by train, bus and flight to any city, town or village in Europe.

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Naren Shaam, CEO and founder of GoEuro, said in a statement: "Our objective is to connect every single location on the map with a click of a button. After three years of intensive work, we've managed to attract 10 million users a month, integrate more than 5 million routes across Europe, 12 countries, 500 partners and sell tickets to millions of customers from more than one hundred countries.

"This new investment from such experienced investors will allow us to scale into many new markets and go deeper into the ones we already have, as well as accelerate development of the world's most comprehensive reservations platform for trains, buses and flights."

The company claims it is now poised to join the small circle of European start-ups seen to have the potential to become multi-billion dollar companies.

Mood Rowghani, general partner at Kleiner Perkins added: "GoEuro provides an essential service to travellers across Europe and has grown tremendously to become a part of consumers' daily lives. Naren is an exceptional entrepreneur with a unique ability to marry big ambitions with strong business acumen. We are delighted to partner with him to achieve GoEuro's mission of becoming the world's largest travel booking service."

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