Deal Street: Travel Startups Goomo, TicketNew Took The Lead In Fund Raising Last Week

Investor interest continues remain high in India’s travel technology space. Online travel startups bagged the bulk of last week’s funding and raised more than $50 million. Just last month, MakeMytrip raised $330 million.

Overall, eight startups raised nearly $103 million from angel investors, venture capitalists and private equity firms, 5 percent higher than the amount reported in the prior week.

Goomo Raises $50 Million From Emerging India

Online travel agency Goomo raised $50 million (around Rs 332 crore) in fresh funding from Mauritius-based private equity investment firm, Emerging India, the company said in a statement. As part of the deal, Emerging India has picked up a majority stake in the company.

This is the third largest funding deal in the travel technology space after MakeMyTrip and Yatra.

Launched in March 2017, the Singapore and Mumbai-based company will use the funds to build its online platform, products, marketing, and to establish its offline partner network, it said in a statement.

The company was formed after the merger of traditional travel-focused firms Orbit Corporate and Leisure Tours in November 2015.

“Goomo is being built ground up to be an omni-channel platform that will facilitate corporate and consumer travel bookings across online and offline channels," the company’s Chief Executive Officer Varun Gupta said in the statement.

Amazon’s Logistics Arm Gets $31 Million

Amazon’s logistics arm, Amazon Transportation Services, has received $31 million (around Rs 207 crore) in fresh funding from Amazon Corporate Holdings Singapore and Amazon Malaysia, according to documents filed with the registrar of companies.

Amazon had last infused Rs 67 crore in its logistics arm in September.

The fund infusion also comes at a time when Amazon is ramping up fulfillment centers across the country. Last month, the company said it is doubling its storage capacity in the country by setting up seven new fulfillment centres by the end of the current quarter.

Amazon, which is locked in an intense battle with homegrown rival, Flipkart, has been pumping in funds to expand infrastructure and technology platform in the country.

Recently Amazon India pumped in Rs 67 crore in Amazon Pay and Rs 100 crore in Amazon Wholesale, which runs the AmazonBusiness entity for business-to-business transactions.

Alibaba Pictures Buys Majority Stake In Online Ticketing Firm TicketNew

Alibaba Pictures Group Ltd, the entertainment arm of Alibaba Group, picked up a majority stake in Chennai-based online ticketing platform TicketNew, according to a company statement.

TicketNew, with a presence in over 300 cities, integrates single-screen theatres, film distributors, production houses and events with users.

“Alibaba plans to invest Rs 120 crore over a period of time. This secures the future of our staff and the company for generations to come,” added TicketNew's Chief Executive Officer Ramkumar Nammalvar.

Founded in 2007, TicketNew’s also offers mobile apps and customised web solutions to theatres. It charges a convenience fee of Rs 20 30 from end-users while booking tickets, in addition to a small fee from theatre-owners for software installation and app development.

After the acquisition, Alibaba will have four nominees on the board and the promoters will have two representatives.

Others

Bengaluru-based co-working space BHIVE Workspace raised $1.2 million in a fresh funding led by Blume Ventures, along with other investors including actor-director Ramesh Aravind, Meera Reddy (Managing director of SKCL), and other high net-worth individuals. The funds will be used to fuel its pan-India operations and international expansion, a company statement said.

Pre-owned cars platform Spinny, raised $1 million (around Rs 6.4 crore) in seed funding in a round led by Blume Ventures, the company said in a statement. The startup will use the funds to strengthen technology and expand to more cities.

Mumbai-based health and fitness discovery platform Growfitter raised $600,000 in pre-Series A funding from San Francisco-based Venture Capital firm SQue Capital, the company said. The money will be used to beef up its technology and physical infrastructure.

Online lending platform ZipLoan, raised $650,000 (around Rs 4.2 crore) in its pre-Series A funding round led by WaterBridge Ventures, VCCircle reported.

Travel Tech startup Guiddoo, raised $300,000 (Rs 1.9 crore) in pre-Series A round of funding from a bunch of individual investors, company said in a statement. Some of the investors include, Pawan Borle, senior vice-president at Fly Dubai, and Ducab human resources head Nirmal Singh.