Duffle adds Dufry as strategic partner to digitise airport experience alongside Gebr. Heinemann

Duffle, a startup that provides travellers with a digital platform to access duty free shops, brand boutiques and food & beverage (F&B) outlets in airports, has gained Dufry as a new strategic partner.

The latter invested in its recent financing round and joins Gebr. Heinemann who backed Duffle via its investment vehicle GHARAGE Ventures.

Whatever the traveller needs, be it a perfume or a croissant, will be delivered by Duffle “runners” to their gate or airport lounge within minutes.

Following trials at Copenhagen airport, the service will soon go live at Berlin airport with delivery and later on collect options for multi-merchant shopping.

The aim is to expand to airport services and, if successful, to additional airports. In addition, Duffle aims to digitise not only the sales experience, but also services and marketing.

Lennard Niemann, pictured above, part of the advisory board of Duffle who represents GHARAGE Ventures as its Managing Director and who guided Duffle through the fundraising process, says: “Seeing two players like Dufry and Gebr. Heinemann invest into a startup like this in order to digitise travel retail is a great basis to continue the journey. We are fully supportive of what Duffle and the strong team behind it is heading for.”

Xavier Rossinyol, CEO at Dufry, says “We believe that the travel retail and F&B industry is still a non-digitised industry, and the next months and years hold leaps and bounds in digitisation.”

“We are actively exploring and participating in this change and see this investment opportunity as part of our initiatives. We look forward to working together on this project with Gebr. Heinemann.”

“The Duffle platform has the potential to create more contact points with customers to offer them a seamless experience both in stores and digitally, and I am curious to see how travellers will react to all the offers that it has in its pipeline.”

Max Heinemann, Co-CEO at Gebr. Heinemann, says: “Duffle is aiming to be a platform which provides an unbroken travel experience that includes all kinds of retail offers and travel services.”

“This approach requires collaboration of all stakeholders at an airport, including travel retail, F&B and other travel service providers. Together, we need to put the traveller in the centre of service, quality and convenience. Therefore, we welcome the additional strategic investor for Duffle, which is now ready to get to the next level.“