NCR based holiday planning startup WeAreHolidays has raised a new round of funding led by Matrix Partners and its existing investors Blume and GSF Superangel Investors. MakeMyTrip’s co-founder Sachin Bhatia is also an investor in WeAreHolidays.
The startup was launched in 2011 by 3 ex-MakeMyTrip employees, Deepak Wadhwa, Harkirat Singh, and Mohit Piplani and had raised undisclosed amount in angel funding from Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels, Sachin Bhatia and GSF India last year.
WeAreHolidays offers users holiday packages that can be booked and customized online.
The new round of funding will be used by the startup to grow its business and deepen its technology and analytics expertise. Currently it growing at 30% MoM.
Indians travelling overseas for leisure alone is a $5-7 Bn market which is growing 40% annually. Out of this, 10% comprise customized holidays – a segment which is growing much faster than other segments. “We believe there is a huge opportunity to leverage technology to re-define the experience of leisure travellers,” Deepak Wadhwa, CEO, WeAreHolidays.
The outbound opportunity from India is significant, especially in the Hotels and Packages segment. The number of Indians travelling overseas is set to rise from 17 Mn to around 50 Mn by 2020, thus room for number of startups to crack this space.
In past few weeks, there has been a lot of funding announcements in regards to this space including – mobile marketplace connecting travelers and locals, SeekSherpa raising seed round of funding from group of angels associated with earlystage accelerator VentureNursery and online marketplace Travel Triangle, that connects agents with best deals as per the customers travel needs, raised INR 10 Cr in a new funding round from Saif Partners.
