Interactive Technologies founded
This is where the origins of Serko began, when Bob Shaw and Darrin Grafton established ITL, a technology company designed to help travel agents solve a number of thorny mid-office and back office system challenges.
We have a vision for a connected, frictionless travel experience. To deliver that, we’re building the world’s business travel marketplace - connecting business travellers everywhere with the content, information and services they need at every stage of the journey.
Zeno revolutionizes the world of online travel and expense management, providing the control that travel managers need with an easy interface that travelers love..
We have a vision for a connected, frictionless travel experience. To deliver that, we’re building the world’s business travel marketplace - connecting business travellers everywhere with the content, information and services they need at every stage of the journey.
“Until now, corporate travel and expense management has been a choice between control and compliance or freedom of choice and ease-of-use. Someone had to compromise. Not anymore." - Darrin Grafton, Serko CEO
We've been leading the way with innovative, integrated travel & expense solutions since 2007. Since then we've listed on the New Zealand and Australian Stock Exchanges (Ticker: SKO), built a global team of around 250 people, and developed a blue-chip customer base in more than 35 countries around the world.
Today, more than 6,000 corporate customers across Asia Pacific, North America, the UK and Europe rely on Serko to help them manage their corporate travel programs and make sense of their corporate expenses. By the numbers, more than 2 million people have access to Serko's technology and more than US4.5billion of travel spend is transacted on Serko’s platform every year through 4 million+ bookings*.
*2019 data
Darrin has 25 years' experience in travel technology and is highly experienced in technology commercialisation. He previously held senior management positions with Gullivers Travel Group (listed on the Australian and New Zealand Stock Exchange 2004-2006) and Interactive Technologies.
Darrin was awarded the NZX Hi-Tech Entrepreneur Award and finalist for the NZ Hi-Tech Company Leader Award in 2007. In 2008 he was a finalist for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and in 2014 was named one of "25 most influential executives in the business travel industry" by American-based Business Travel News (BTN).
Darrin is a member of the Institute of IT Professionals NZ, the Institute of Directors NZ and NZCDP.
Shane joined Serko with over 30 years’ experience in finance, commercial and leadership roles, most recently as the CFO of NZX and ASX listed company PushPay.
Through his career he has held senior management roles, building and leading large teams at Vector, Spark and Pulse Energy. Shane has a BCA and LLB (Hons) from Victoria University of Wellington and is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.
Bob has 30 years' experience creating and commercialising technology for the travel industry. He has held a number of directorships and senior management positions in various high-profile ventures including Gullivers Travel Group (listed on the Australian and New Zealand Stock Exchange between 2004 and 2006) and Interactive Technologies.
Bob's strengths lie in his ability to translate opportunities into successful commercial ventures and build the relationships necessary to see them through to fruition. In 2008, Bob was a finalist for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and is a member of the Institute of IT Professionals NZ, the Institute of Directors NZ and NZCDP.
Charlie has over 25 years experience as an operations executive and management adviser, specialising in business transformation and operational excellence. Over the last decade he has been COO for a number of technology start-ups in the US and Canada.
Duanne is a technology leader with over 25 years experience, specialising in building global enterprise SaaS (software as a service) platforms. Duanne leads the largest of our global teams, designing, building and running Serko’s platforms and products.
Rachael has more than 15 years in HR leadership roles across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, with much of her career at the Expedia Group. She brings a strong commercial focus and a deep passion for unlocking individual, team and organization potential.
Jason is an experienced commercial leader who has held senior management and consultant roles at Expedia, Google and Spark. He helps to set commercial strategy for our distribution and supply channels and align others to drive commercial success.
Nick is a technology marketing leader with a 20 year track record of commercialising technology through the development of effective go-to-market strategies and leads Serko's global marketing and communications function.
Murray has 20 years experience working with cloud software technology building new sales and revenue operations. He has previously held several senior management positions with Concur Technologies, an SAP company, across Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America.
Tony is a 35-year travel industry veteran, with rich expertise in business travel and technology and a passion for moving the industry forward. His career includes senior leadership positions at Deem, Phocuswright, GroundLink, Sabre / GetThere and United Airlines.
Tony is a long-time member of GBTA and ACTE and a former member of the Board of Directors of both ACTE and WINiT for Women.
An integral member of the Serko product team for over 20 years, Jo has been responsible for the training, implementation and on-site support of Serko Online in its early days, through to her current role in leading the Zeno product team. With a focus on enhancing the definition and growth of Serko's Travel and Expense products in the marketplace, Jo oversees the development of the product’s roadmap, working closely with development, testing, marketing and sales teams within the business.
Jonathan is an experienced travel technology executive who previously held senior roles at Groupon, Expedia Group (Orbitz) and Langham Hotels. He leads our global SME partnerships including Booking.com for Business.
Serko is a story of technology innovation. Founders Darrin Grafton and Bob Shaw started the Serko journey with Interactive Technologies Limited in 1994, and we've gone from strength to strength ever since.
Start The Journey
1994
This is where the origins of Serko began, when Bob Shaw and Darrin Grafton established ITL, a technology company designed to help travel agents solve a number of thorny mid-office and back office system challenges.
2000
As the internet began to change the way leisure travelers searched and booked travel, ITL changed direction in order to ride the wave and in 2000 Serko Online was born to bring online booking to business travel.
2007
Following the sale of ITL, the company Serko is founded and launched. That year CEO Darrin Grafton is awarded the PWC Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
2011
A key part of Serko’s DNA is the development of ground-breaking innovations, and the first in a series of patents for the use of early stage technology to solve business travel and expense challenges.
2012
Recognizing the opportunity to capitalize on China’s talent pool of developers and software engineers, Serko opens it’s first development office in Xi’an.
2014
Serko is floated on the New Zealand Stock Exchange, allowing retail and institutional investors to participate in the company’s growth prospects.
2014
Travel accounts for nearly 70% of expense spending, so the ability to offer a tightly integrated travel and expense management solution becomes a key differentiator.
2015
Serko acquired the assets of Arnold Travel Technology, a competing online booking tool (OBT), from Expedia® to extend it's dominance over the Australian market
2016
Recognizing that online booking tools (OBT) have traditionally been the preserve of large corporate and government organizations, Serko launches a portal designed to make it cost-effective and simple for small- and mid-size organizations to access the benefits of a managed travel program.
2017
Recognizing the trend for consumerization of enterprise technology, Serko launches a mobile app for iPhone and Android, putting the power of a travel concierge in the hand of every corporate traveler.
2018
The most significant product development in Serko’s history leads to Zeno, a ground-breaking travel and expense platform powered by AI that brings personalized itineraries, chatbot bookings and intelligent travel management to the industry for the first time.
2018
Industry veteran Tony d’Astolfo joins Serko as Senior Vice President, North America and begins to build a team and establish operations and partnerships in region.
2018
An increasing demand from international investors sees Serko undertake a compliance listing on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).
2019
Serko acquires InterplX, a Minnesota-based expense management company that brings a team of highly capable technology specialists to strengthen it's presence in the North American market. Serko North America Headquarters established and strategically positioned in close proximity to key partners in the Midwest.
2019
Serko and Booking Holdings extend their partnership to launch a new version of Booking.com for Business powered by Zeno
2020
The new Zeno powered Booking.com for Business solution goes live, introducing the vision of the connected trip to business travellers globally with flight and rail content added to Booking.com's extensive accomodation inventory for a unified itinerary.
2021
Despite a global slowdown in business travel, with NZ$90 million of cash reserves, zero debt and a rapidly expanding global customer base, Serko is investing to grow it's technology and development teams to accelerate towards growth opportunities.
Zeno can integrate with most corporate card providers and can ingest or share data with your HR, ERP, Accounting or Finance Management System to reduce manual workflows and improve data integrity.
Serko is listed on the New Zealand and Australian Stock Exchange Main Boards (Ticker:SKO). Visit the Serko Investor Centre for the latest market announcements, investor reports, stock price information and to sign up for investor alerts.
Serko is one of the most exciting high-tech businesses to work for in the travel and expense technology industry. Find your fit by learning about the culture in our different offices around the world and check out the latest opportunities to join our global team in our Careers Centre.