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Bangalore-based technology driven travel marketplace, Itraveller has raised INR 6 Cr. in Series A through ah! Ventures’ investment network, CLUB ah!. Besides the existing investors of iTraveller and new investors from ah! Angels & LetsVenture, this was a first deal where ah! VC, the VC network of CLUB ah! also participated. Mantra Ventures was the primary investor from ah! VC in this round.
Founded in 2012 by former Wipro and Cognizant consultant Shiju Radhakrishnan, iTraveller provides a platform where travellers can discover, plan and book their trips. They can completely customize & buy their trips online. On the supply side, iTraveller aggregates native wholesale suppliers who are responsible for the operational aspects of the business that includes ground handling and fulfillment.
“With this fund raise, our singular focus is to achieve scale, from the current 20 room nights a day to over 100 room nights, within 12 months. We are resolved to become the largest tech-enabled platform for holidays in the country, with an ambitious target of one billion dollar transactions in fives years from now.”, says Shiju Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of iTraveller. “The idea is to inculcate the culture of online discovery and planning, leading to transactions, which translates to a technology driven marketplace model.”
There are over 2 Lakhs trips created by users on iTraveller, it has featured over 20 travel destinations across the globe and over 60 native wholesale suppliers from across these destinations.
“iTraveller has experimented with different business models in this duration and have now established a revenue generating and easily scalable business. iTraveller has been getting good traction both from customers and other strategic partners. We chose to invest in iTraveller considering the team’s dedication, hard work and established business model.” says Abhijeet Kumar, Founding Partner, ah! Ventures.
In November, last year Delhi based, Tripoto had also raised $400k (INR 2.4 Cr.) in funding from angel investors led by Outbox ventures, with Palaash Ventures also participating in the funding round.
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