ClearTrip has received $18.5mn in the third round of funding led by DFJ ($10 mn) and the rest was led by Mahindra Group and all the four firms that had previously invested in Cleartrip.
This brings the total investment in Cleartrip to $ 30. 2 million.
ClearTrip plans to use the funding for building more services and increasing offline presence as well as acquisitions (any guesses?).
The online travel industry in India was estimated at $2 billion in revenues (the value of transactions as opposed to the earnings of travel firms) in 2007 and is expected to grow to $6 billion in 2010, according to travel research group Eye For Travel. – source
Other players:
- MMT raised $15mn earlier, and Yatra is mulling IPO in 2008.
- iXiGo raised funding from BAF Spectrum.
So finally Cleartrip is also coming into brick and mortar retail. MakeMyTrip, Yatra and now Cleartrip, customers will definitely gain but seems like these OTAs are going to keep burning VCs money for a longer time.
I think any online business should gradually create their offline presence ,in order to ensure longevity of their business.
Obviously, It makes sense for the OTAs to get into offline mode also, as it increases their reach and improves trust levels. What I fail to understand is that why do they need so much funding? Are they still not making enough money?
Given that the OTAs are going to have their IPOs and their are possibilities of M&A, OTAs are hard bent to increase their maket share as well as branding to get higher valuation in the end.. All this leads to higher discounts and low margin.
Yes Udai, the OTA are pumping out of Pockets for there Market Share in the OTA market and penentrating for the Airline Business but they see beside the Hotel Business with Cream.
The Hotel Booking through the Online segment is still to be veinned into the Indian Consumer… which have its own level of purchasing
Pingback: Indian Travel Industry: Witnessing penguin effect? |Indian Startups, Business and Technology
Pingback: Indian IT & ITES Sector gets 67% of VC Money in Q1 |Technology and Business Startups in India
Pingback: ClearTrip launches Travel Video |Technology and Business Startups in India
Pingback: TravelGuru sells majority stake to Expedia |Technology and Business Startups in India
Pingback: And why ClearTrip is supporting India’s offline travel agents and wants to stand by them? |Technology and Business Startups in India