Travel based startups have of late been getting more funding than even e-commerce portals. Travel startups are also witnessing a boom for past two years.
According to research firm Tracxn’s data, first half of this year saw $457.67 million in funding versus $75.4 million during the same period in 2015 for travel-based startups.
It has happened due to a variety of factors including ecosystem, growth of digitalisation, customer behavior. This is also borne out from the fact that 8 travel based startups were funded this year on occasion of ‘World Tourism Day’. It would obviously boost tourism in Karnataka,.
The new version of travelling startups are using technology to help select the best packages, others focusing on personalised advice to help travellers overcome their decision paralysis when it comes to travel.
As per the data, it is seen that since the beginning of 2016, travel startups have received $366,450,000 while ecommerce marketplace startups have received $357,831,100 in funding. A bulk of the funds for travel startups came through two deals, with Ibibo Group raising $250 million in February in a Series-C round while OYO Rooms raised $100 million in a Series-D round in April.
Although, it is very ironical that once Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned tourism as one of the four pillars and on the other hand tourism and hotel industry found no mention in the Union budget 2016-17 presented by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
As per Tracxn, since Januray about 56 companies have been founded in the travel ecosystem.
Well it is really interesting to know that this is the first time since 2011 when the travel segment has managed a place among the top three funded sectors in the country. Online marketplaces stopped short of being the highest funded segment only in 2010, as per data from Tracxn.
In the first quarter this year, travel startups saw a funding of $253,250,000 raised by Ibibo Group, Roadhouse Hostels ConfirmTkt, SavvyMob and Roomoncall while in the ongoing second quarter GoHero, OYO Rooms, RailYatri, Easy Roads, Stayzilla have raised $113,200,000.
Travel startups raised among the highest funding in the third quarter of 2015, with and Zo Rooms raising $164,100,186 between July and September.
Startups have changed the tourism scene with travel portals being a big success. Let’s dig a few more startups who are proving ‘Small is Big’…
- Fabhotels is a leading hotel booking and tours startup company. It has raised about $8 million in June this year. Fabhotels handles over 100 hotels across 15 cities and charges a flat franchise fee on overall revenue of the hotel.
- Treebo, a budget hotel room platform that started operations in June 2015. So far it has raised over $23 million. Last round of $17 million was in july this year. Its has gained investments from SAIF partners, Matrix Partners and Bertelsmann India Investments.
- Travelyaari is a booking site for bus travel in India but also sells tours and activities as a secondary business. Itraised a $3 million venture round from new investors Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship, Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd and GVFL Limited. This brings the Amedabad-based startup’s total funding to more than $3 million though a previous seed round was undisclosed.
- GoFro, started by former Snapdeal CTO, is an online marketplace for travel. It helps in holiday bookings, through its Companion app and ensures that the customer has in-destination support. Founded by Amitabh Mishra, the company received $5 million in funds from MakeMyTrip this year.
- Tripoto, is a social platform to share and discover travel destination. The startup was founded by ISB alumni Michael Lyngdoh and Anirudh Gupta in 2013. According to Tripoto, more than 2 million travellers use the platform every month and the online community has a cumulative reach of 15 million travellers across platforms.
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