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Even in the face of a challenging year in which the airline industry remained turbulent, Kambr not only endured but excelled. The company grew in each of the three key areas of people, product and recurring revenue.
A Focus on People
Most importantly, Kambr spent 2021 investing in its people (Kambrians) and culture, making both immediate impacts and building towards the future.
At the forefront of its cultural initiatives was well being. The last two years have been a challenging time even for the most grounded of individuals. Challenging work, social and economic environments weighed heavy, giving way to feelings of languish.
“We believe our initiatives to support Kambrians are the most important work we do as we continue to make Kambr a world-class modern-day company in this new era of flexible work.”
Kambr understood and felt this impact and made sure to provide Kambrians with the resources and time they needed.
Among the installed programs are multiple company-wide temporary shutdowns in order to give rest and prevent burnout, a wellness program, with a focus on mental health, including access to therapy and other resources, and a training and education program.
“It’s definitely not just a cliché when we say our people are our most important asset,” said Chris Anthony, Chief Strategy Officer, Kambr.
“We believe our initiatives to support Kambrians are the most important work we do as we continue to make Kambr a world-class modern-day company in this new era of flexible work.”
As part of its people-focused projects Kambr has made two critical hires. As previously announced, Ken Gould steps in as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer. Under Gould’s watch Kambr is optimizing its organizational structure from top to bottom in order to increase its velocity and production.
“An extremely strong foundation has been laid down and fortified at Kambr, which sets us up for a very exciting trajectory and road ahead.”
Joining as Head of HR and Recruiting is Bob Schoewe. Tasked with executing on Kambr’s aggressive company-wide hiring and expansion plan, his initiatives include employee retention and executing on the organization’s employee branding.
“An extremely strong foundation has been laid down and fortified at Kambr, which sets us up for a very exciting trajectory and road ahead,” said Gould.
“There is so much directly in front of us to capture, which I have no doubt we will because of both the groundwork and determination that has already been put in and the continued growth, resolve and work ethic of our team.”
Customer Acquisition and Implementation
Kambr parlayed its investment into its people into commercial success. 2021 marked Kambr’s third year, which is often a key inflection point in the success or failure of a technology startup.
Despite the challenging economic and travel industry backdrop, Kambr flourished as it vaulted that important hurdle.
In the year, Kambr was able to drive substantial revenue growth through meaningful customer acquisition.
“Heading into 2021, we had very lofty revenue expectations and it feels great to hit those targets, especially considering the challenging environment,” said Mike Buccialia, Chief Commercial Officer, Kambr.
“The success in ‘21 is a testament to our entire team; product is building software that airlines love; customer support and success have been instrumental in our onboarding and relationship building and our sales and marketing efforts have been delivering results.”
In 2021, Kambr signed and successfully implemented eight software customers from around the globe including Malaysian-based AirAsia, South-Korean carrier Air Premia Norwegian-startup Flyr, South American-ULCC JetSMART and Swedish-virtual-airline Air Leap with more to be announced in the first quarter of 2022.
“We have airline clients from every corner of the globe, including key markets such as LATAM and APAC, and we're carrying this momentum into 2022 where we expect to grow tenfold.”
In addition to closing several software goals, Kambr Advisory was able to contract several airlines for consultancy and revenue-management based services.
“I am very impressed with what our team was able to achieve this year, not only in size and volume but in scope,” said Jason Kelly, CEO, Kambr.
“We have airline clients from every corner of the globe, including key markets such as LATAM and APAC, and we're carrying this momentum into 2022 where we expect to grow tenfold.”
APAC Expansion
As part of its global footprint, Kambr extended its penetration into the APAC region with new business and strategic personnel expansion.
Along with customer acquisition in the region which included the previously mentioned AirAsia and Air Premia, Kambr is scaling up its operations in APAC, most notably bringing on Steve Allen as APAC Managing Director.
Allen brings with him a wealth of experience from directly within commercial functions of airlines, including holding the role of Chief Commercial Officer at Flynas and HK Express, while also holding prominent roles at Mango Aviation Partners, Tiger Airways and within the Philippine Airlines group.
“The solutions that Kambr is bringing to the market are long overdue for the industry."
Allen oversees all critical functions in the region including acquiring and growing customers within APAC. He also heads up the newly minted Bangkok office, which will serve as the regional HQ for Kambr.
“I followed the Kambr journey since its launch and was aware of the vision the Kambr leaders had, which really resonated with me,” said Allen.
“The solutions that Kambr is bringing to the market are long overdue for the industry, and I’m super excited about what we are doing and the direction we are going.”
Looking Ahead to 2022
With a strong foundation cemented, Kambr will be doubling down on its strengths, using what was learned from 2021 as a blueprint for sustained growth.
First and foremost, you can expect a further investment into Kambrians both with a strong recruiting drive ensuring the right team is in place and extensive cultural initiative expansion, providing the catalyst to an efficient, inclusive and joyful work environment.
While the team prides itself on its flexible and distributed work environment, it also came to understand the importance of togetherness when Kambrians gathered for a company-wide meet up in Barcelona, dubbed BCN 40.
Therefore, more in-person team connects, globally, regionally and locally can be expected, culminating in quarterly company-wide meetups.
Kambr will be leaning into its core values of Adaptability and Kindness to foster greater growth and well-being among its team. More people-focused programs promoting the education and health of Kambrians will be rolled out and expanded.
"We will expand both the depth and abilities of our product team to continue to provide our customers with the tools needed for tomorrow instead of yesterday.”
A focal point will be expanding on the organizations world-class customer support and success teams.
“We’ve taken the cumbersome process of software implementation and turned it on its head by implementing customers in a matter of weeks instead of months,” said Michael Peters, Chief Product Officer, Kambr.
“We’ll be fortifying this competitive advantage of ours and making it even stronger by expanding our exceptional customer team both pre- and post-implementation.”
Another focus for Kambr will be augmenting its product team in order to ship out more features and at a faster pace while upholding quality.
“We’re very proud of what we’ve built in such a brief period of time while collaborating directly with our airline customers, but this is just the tip of the iceberg when looking at our seven-year plan,” said Peters.
“In 2022, we will expand both the depth and abilities of our product team to continue to provide our customers with the tools needed for tomorrow instead of yesterday.”
