Dutch technology investor Prosus has entered the Indian travel market by acquiring a significant minority stake in the travel-tech company ixigo. This investment marks Prosus’s first venture into India’s travel sector.
Prosus, which has a global travel portfolio including companies like Etraveli Group, Trip.com, and Busbud, expressed confidence in the recovery and long-term growth potential of the Indian travel industry.
### Prosus’s Strategic Investment
The investment is part of a larger transaction that included a primary investment from GIC, a Singapore-based sovereign wealth fund, and a pre-IPO secondary placement. This transaction provided a partial exit for some of ixigo’s early investors, including Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners) and Micromax.
Ashutosh Sharma, Head of India Investments at Prosus Ventures, stated that the Indian travel market is one of the fastest-growing globally and that ixigo is well-positioned to serve the “next billion users” who are shifting from offline to online travel booking. He noted that the travel market is recovering well from the pandemic’s impact.
### ixigo’s Growth and Future Plans
ixigo, a technology company focused on empowering Indian travelers, will continue to be led by its co-founders, Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar. The co-founders expressed their excitement about welcoming Prosus and GIC as shareholders, highlighting the investors’ deep technology experience and long-term perspective.
The company has a strong focus on the ‘next billion user’ segment and travelers from Tier II, III, and IV markets within India. In August, ixigo filed a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) for an initial public offering (IPO). The company competes with other online travel platforms such as MakeMyTrip.
Key Points
* ixigo filed a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) for an initial public offering (IPO) of Rs 1,600 crore in August.
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