 "ixigo plans to go for a third round of funding")
Online travel search company IXIGO, which has SAIF Partners and MakeMyTrip as investors, plans to raise third round of funding later this year when the company may break even on a monthly basis.
“On a monthly basis, we hope to stop losing money from this September-October. We have plans to invest further in product, technology and innovation," said Aloke Bajpai, founder and chief executive officer of the company that was set up in 2007.
Last year, home grown mobile handset maker Micromax had invested an undisclosed amount in the company. In 2011, it had raised $18.5 million in investments from SAIF and leading travel portal MakeMyTrip. Bajpai did not comment when asked about the size of the next round.
If IXIGO’s growth is anything to go by, the next round has to be significantly more than $18.5 million. The online travel space has already seen some big ticket investment activity early this year. In February, online travel agency Ibibo secured an investment of $250 million from Naspers, the South African Internet and media company.
The money will be used to expand presence in the hotel segment, focus on innovations and have more users download its app on their smart phones. Ibibo’s rival and Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip in January raised an investment of $180 million from Chinese travel major Ctrip and plans to deploy significant funds to expand the high-margin hotel booking business.
The money will be used to expand presence in the hotel segment, focus on innovations and have more users download its app on their smart phones. Ibibo’s rival and Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip in January raised an investment of $180 million from Chinese travel major Ctrip and plans to deploy significant funds to expand the high-margin hotel booking business.
IXIGO claims to be executing half a million travel transactions every month for flight, hotel, train, bus and taxi bookings. Bajpai said the number of transactions has doubled in last one year as more and more bookings are shifting online. IXIGO mobile apps dedicated to flight, hotels, cabs and rail bookings have seen a total download of 10.5 million. Flight bookings bring maximum traffic to IXIGO, followed by hotels.
IXIGO aggregates, searches, and compares the best deals for flights, hotels, buses, trains and packages, reviews and the best travel facts from across 100+ travel websites to provide real time information at one place. It competes with TripAdvisor and HolidayIQ in the hotel business and with Skyscanner in flights and hotel booking space.
Bajpai said with more and more supplies in travel industry moving online, it becomes a tough task for buyers to identify the right price and deal by browsing through multiple apps or websites. “We are a kind of google for the online travel sector as we work with small as well as big players."