MakeMyTrip Raises USD 13 Million: Second Round to Fund Technology, Infrastructure and Growth
Delhi, India, December 16, 2006 --(PR.com)-- India’s largest online travel company, MakeMyTrip.com, has raised $13 million in its second round of funding. The investment comes from three blue-chip venture capital firms - Helion Ventures, Sierra Ventures and existing investors, SB Asia Infrastructure Fund (SAIF). Announcing the investment in New Delhi on Thursday, Deep Kalra, Founder & CEO, MakeMyTrip.com said, “This investment will be used for enhancement in our infrastructure and technology capabilities as the business gears up to serve over 2 million customers in 2007.”
“MakeMyTrip.com is the clear leader in the rapidly growing online travel space in India and Helion is proud to be associated with it,” said Sanjeev Aggarwal, Managing Director, Helion Ventures Pvt. Ltd. “We believe that MakeMyTrip.com stands apart in an increasingly crowded marketplace due to a winning combination that brings together deep experience in the online travel business, a world class management team, a strong and well-established network of fulfillment options and the ability to continually innovate as the market leader.”
“Online travel addresses a large market in India. Sierra Ventures has been focused on the industry for some time now and we have reviewed investment opportunities in several competing portals,” said Tim Guleri, Managing Director, Sierra Ventures. “MakeMyTrip.com is the largest and most successful online travel vendor in India and we believe the management team will continue to lead the market with distinct product innovations and strong industry
partnerships.”
“SAIF is excited about increasing its investment in MakeMyTrip. Since our initial investment in the company in 2005, the management has done a stellar job of building a powerful brand and differentiating itself in the crowded market. With this fresh infusion of capital, we believe that MakeMyTrip will not only maintain its dominant position in the market, but expand on its significant lead over the competitors.”
“This investment will help us respond more pro-actively to the phenomenal demand expressed by Indian consumers to buy online travel services from MakeMyTrip.com.” MakeMyTrip is on track to record sales of Rs.600 crores (USD 130M) in the current fiscal year ending March 07, effectively registering a growth of 200% from the previous year. Since its launch of online travel services in India, MakeMyTrip has grown rapidly to become the largest issuer of air- tickets in the country and also the leading seller of hotel reservations and holidays in India.
Sanjeev Aggarwal, Managing Director, Helion Ventures Pvt. Ltd and Tim Guleri, Managing Director, Sierra Ventures will now join the board of directors, which comprises eminent industry experts, Mr. Philip C. Wolf, globally renowned travel guru, Mr. Sanjeev Bhikchandani, Founder and CEO, Naukri.com and Mr. Frederic Lalonde, a former Expedia senior executive, besides Ravi Adusumalli of SAIF and senior management of MMT.
About MakeMyTrip India
The India business of MMT was launched in September 2005. As the first and only comprehensive online travel site with real time booking for flights, hotels, holidays and cars, MakeMyTrip.com is heralding a revolution in the way travel will be bought in India.
Within a year of its launch MakeMyTrip has acquired over 250,000 delighted customers and sells over 4000 flight tickets, 400 hotel room nights and over 100 holiday packages every day. The site attracts over 1.2 Million unique visitors every month according to WebSideStory, HBx Analytics, an independent traffic-monitoring agency. In India MakeMyTrip has also partnered with ICICI to power their TravelSmart Card, is providing travel services to HSBC credit card customers, Visa and Kingfisher to service their travel offers and also power the online flight auctions of GoAir and Kingfisher on the Rediff website.
Headquartered at New Delhi, MakeMyTrip has projected a turnover of Rs 600 crores (USD 130 Millions) in current fiscal, which is a 200% growth from last year’s registered sales of Rs 200 crores (USD 42 Million). MakeMyTrip.com has over 450 employees on board and offers 24x7 customer service.
About MakeMyTrip US
MakeMyTrip.com was launched in 2000 to cater to the niche USA to India travel market. Since its inception, it has been growing at a fast pace to emerge as the foremost travel website in the US to India market. MakeMyTrip.com has 3.5 % share of this NRI market, which is pegged at Rs 4500 crore (USD 1 Billion).
With over 100,000 customers and 130,000 registered users in the US, MakeMyTrip has a renewal rate of 30%. NRI’s can book tickets to India online or call our Travel consultants who are available 24x7 on US toll free 1800-India-10. The unprecedented growth rate, superior technology, excellent customer service and over three years of profitable operations, has established MakeMyTrip as the number one destination for NRI’s when looking to book travel to India. Outside of India, MakeMyTrip offices are located in New York and Sydney.
About Helion Venture Partners
Helion Venture Partners is a $140 million multi-stage, India-focused venture fund. The fund invests in technology-powered businesses such as Outsourcing, Internet, Mobile and Technology Products. The fund’s investors are well-respected Global institutions including Ivy League endowment funds and highly-successful Internet pioneering entrepreneurs. The fund and its portfolio companies are advised by an experienced and industry renowned team of professionals based in India which include Sanjeev Aggarwal, Ashish Gupta, Kanwaljit Singh and Rahul Chandra. www.helionvc.com
About Sierra Ventures
Sierra Ventures is a private venture capital firm focusing its investments in Information Technology companies. Their current investments include companies based in the United States, Canada, China and India. They work with entrepreneurs and management teams to originate and build new companies into large, profitable businesses. Sierra Ventures manages nine venture capital partnerships, which together have more than $1.5 billion of committed capital.
About SOFTBANK Asia Infrastructure Fund
SAIF is a private equity fund investing in communications, media and information technology product and service companies who are based, have key operations or significant growth potential in the Asia-Pacific region. SAIF was founded in February 2001 following the formation of a strategic partnership between SOFTBANK Corporation and Cisco Systems, the founding limited partner of the fund. Cisco is a key financial and strategic partner for SAIF. SAIF currently manages over $1 billion in capital.
For further information, please contact:
Gayatri Buddha,
AVP Marketing & Alliances, MakeMyTrip.com
+91-11-43235147, gayatri.buddha@makemytrip.com
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“MakeMyTrip.com is the clear leader in the rapidly growing online travel space in India and Helion is proud to be associated with it,” said Sanjeev Aggarwal, Managing Director, Helion Ventures Pvt. Ltd. “We believe that MakeMyTrip.com stands apart in an increasingly crowded marketplace due to a winning combination that brings together deep experience in the online travel business, a world class management team, a strong and well-established network of fulfillment options and the ability to continually innovate as the market leader.”
“Online travel addresses a large market in India. Sierra Ventures has been focused on the industry for some time now and we have reviewed investment opportunities in several competing portals,” said Tim Guleri, Managing Director, Sierra Ventures. “MakeMyTrip.com is the largest and most successful online travel vendor in India and we believe the management team will continue to lead the market with distinct product innovations and strong industry
partnerships.”
“SAIF is excited about increasing its investment in MakeMyTrip. Since our initial investment in the company in 2005, the management has done a stellar job of building a powerful brand and differentiating itself in the crowded market. With this fresh infusion of capital, we believe that MakeMyTrip will not only maintain its dominant position in the market, but expand on its significant lead over the competitors.”
“This investment will help us respond more pro-actively to the phenomenal demand expressed by Indian consumers to buy online travel services from MakeMyTrip.com.” MakeMyTrip is on track to record sales of Rs.600 crores (USD 130M) in the current fiscal year ending March 07, effectively registering a growth of 200% from the previous year. Since its launch of online travel services in India, MakeMyTrip has grown rapidly to become the largest issuer of air- tickets in the country and also the leading seller of hotel reservations and holidays in India.
Sanjeev Aggarwal, Managing Director, Helion Ventures Pvt. Ltd and Tim Guleri, Managing Director, Sierra Ventures will now join the board of directors, which comprises eminent industry experts, Mr. Philip C. Wolf, globally renowned travel guru, Mr. Sanjeev Bhikchandani, Founder and CEO, Naukri.com and Mr. Frederic Lalonde, a former Expedia senior executive, besides Ravi Adusumalli of SAIF and senior management of MMT.
About MakeMyTrip India
The India business of MMT was launched in September 2005. As the first and only comprehensive online travel site with real time booking for flights, hotels, holidays and cars, MakeMyTrip.com is heralding a revolution in the way travel will be bought in India.
Within a year of its launch MakeMyTrip has acquired over 250,000 delighted customers and sells over 4000 flight tickets, 400 hotel room nights and over 100 holiday packages every day. The site attracts over 1.2 Million unique visitors every month according to WebSideStory, HBx Analytics, an independent traffic-monitoring agency. In India MakeMyTrip has also partnered with ICICI to power their TravelSmart Card, is providing travel services to HSBC credit card customers, Visa and Kingfisher to service their travel offers and also power the online flight auctions of GoAir and Kingfisher on the Rediff website.
Headquartered at New Delhi, MakeMyTrip has projected a turnover of Rs 600 crores (USD 130 Millions) in current fiscal, which is a 200% growth from last year’s registered sales of Rs 200 crores (USD 42 Million). MakeMyTrip.com has over 450 employees on board and offers 24x7 customer service.
About MakeMyTrip US
MakeMyTrip.com was launched in 2000 to cater to the niche USA to India travel market. Since its inception, it has been growing at a fast pace to emerge as the foremost travel website in the US to India market. MakeMyTrip.com has 3.5 % share of this NRI market, which is pegged at Rs 4500 crore (USD 1 Billion).
With over 100,000 customers and 130,000 registered users in the US, MakeMyTrip has a renewal rate of 30%. NRI’s can book tickets to India online or call our Travel consultants who are available 24x7 on US toll free 1800-India-10. The unprecedented growth rate, superior technology, excellent customer service and over three years of profitable operations, has established MakeMyTrip as the number one destination for NRI’s when looking to book travel to India. Outside of India, MakeMyTrip offices are located in New York and Sydney.
About Helion Venture Partners
Helion Venture Partners is a $140 million multi-stage, India-focused venture fund. The fund invests in technology-powered businesses such as Outsourcing, Internet, Mobile and Technology Products. The fund’s investors are well-respected Global institutions including Ivy League endowment funds and highly-successful Internet pioneering entrepreneurs. The fund and its portfolio companies are advised by an experienced and industry renowned team of professionals based in India which include Sanjeev Aggarwal, Ashish Gupta, Kanwaljit Singh and Rahul Chandra. www.helionvc.com
About Sierra Ventures
Sierra Ventures is a private venture capital firm focusing its investments in Information Technology companies. Their current investments include companies based in the United States, Canada, China and India. They work with entrepreneurs and management teams to originate and build new companies into large, profitable businesses. Sierra Ventures manages nine venture capital partnerships, which together have more than $1.5 billion of committed capital.
About SOFTBANK Asia Infrastructure Fund
SAIF is a private equity fund investing in communications, media and information technology product and service companies who are based, have key operations or significant growth potential in the Asia-Pacific region. SAIF was founded in February 2001 following the formation of a strategic partnership between SOFTBANK Corporation and Cisco Systems, the founding limited partner of the fund. Cisco is a key financial and strategic partner for SAIF. SAIF currently manages over $1 billion in capital.
For further information, please contact:
Gayatri Buddha,
AVP Marketing & Alliances, MakeMyTrip.com
+91-11-43235147, gayatri.buddha@makemytrip.com
###
Contact
Make My Trip India Pvt. Ltd.
Gayatri Buddha
+91-11-43235147
www.makemytrip.com
Gayatri Buddha
+91-11-43235147
www.makemytrip.com
Contact
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