Distribution Strategies

Mumbai-based Cleartrip Travel Services Pvt. Ltd has reportedly received a third round of funding of $18.5 million, which brings the total investment in the Mumbai-based travel company to $30.2 million.

Published: 28 Feb 2008

Mumbai-based Cleartrip Travel Services Pvt. Ltd has reportedly received a third round of funding of $18.5 million, which brings the total investment in the Mumbai-based travel company to $30.2 million.

According to livemint.com, venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson India Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd (DFJ) led the round with a $10 million investment. DFJ was joined by the Mahindra Group and all the four firms that had previously invested in Cleartrip.

Recently, travel search engine iXiGO.com had received an undisclosed sum of first-round financing from BAF Spectrum Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based investment firm.

The investment in Cleartrip comes at a stage when online travel agencies have indicated about their plans to focus on profitablility.

In an interview with EyeforTravel.com last year, Travelocity's MD in India, Himanshu Singh had said: "Publicly available data suggests that the top three OTAs in India are spending in excess of USD1 million a month on marketing, and we see consumer cash back offers touching 50%. This coupled with high fixed costs and growing competition will definitely put pressure on existing players."

"We are seeing consolidation in online travel globally, in Asia Pacific and so in that respect India is no different apart from the fact that the world is turning its attention to online opportunities here, and acquisitions are certainly one avenue for taking a piece of the growing Indian online travel pie," Singh had said.

One of the major players, MakeMyTrip.com's (MMT) projected turnover for 2007–2008 fiscal year ending March 2008 is US$280 million, which is 124 percent growth from the previous year.