February 8, 2017 TnH Global

TravelTriangle raises $10 million in fresh round of funding

TravelTriangle, an online marketplace for discovering travel agents, has raised $10 million, or about Rs 67 crore) in a fresh round of funding led by Singapore-based venture capital firm RB Investments.

SAIF Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners, existing investors in the Noida-based Holiday Triangle Travel that owns and operates TravelTriangle, also participated in the new round, even as risk capital continues to back players in the country’s online travel sector. Last month, ETreported that Chinese investor Fosun International was about to close its first venture investment in the country in online travel search marketplace Ixigo.

There were several deals in the space in 2016 including the sector’s largest merger so far between Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip and Ibibo Group which was backed by Tencent and Naspers. Yatra Onlinealso made its public market debut through a reverse merger. RB Investments has backed a string of Indian consumer-focused startups, including online jewellery retailer Bluestone, online lingerie retailer Pretty Secrets, and online food delivery venture Swiggy.

“We see TravelTriangle marketplace as the key beneficiary of fast growing outbound holiday market and increasing fragmentation of offline travel agents,” an RB Investments spokesperson said. “Increasing consumer expectations and needs make travel agents and related industry players indispensable which results into great opportunity for TravelTriangle.”

TravelTriangle has over 650 travel agents on its platform, and claims to have monthly visits of about two million. It recorded gross transactions of Rs 200 crore in May last year. The company plans to use the proceeds from the latest funding round to further build on its offerings to consumers, including, providing price estimations and multiple payment options, and improve upon its big data algorithms for travel agents on the platform.

“There is a very large list of features requested by both travellers and suppliers, and we will be working on them, to provide seamless experiences to both sets,” said Agarwal, chief executive of TravelTriangle.

“We have grown faster than OTAs in the leisure segment and now fast approaching their scale,” he told ET, but declined to share numbers for 2016-17. He said the firm expects to be profitable across its geographies over the next 18 months. It has till date raised close to $20 million across three rounds. In January last year, ET had reported that the company was in the market to raise about $30 million in funding, and had appointed merchant bank Investec to scout for investors. However, it seems to have scaled down its ambitions, given the tough fund-raising environment in the country.

“We have grown very strongly organically… We didn’t need to raise that amount of money and dilute ourselves, and it’s better to raise a lesser sum, and achieve our targets,” Agarwal said.

News Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com