ixigo Charts Growth In OTA Segment With 209% Jump In FY18 Revenues

Online travel marketplace ixigo announced the financial results for the fiscal 2017-18 with a 209% growth in revenues reaching $9.41 Mn (INR 69.19 Cr).

In a statement, the company shared it wants to exceed $250 Mn in Gross Market Value (GMV) for FY19 with 6x growth in transactions, touching 1 Mn passenger bookings per month through its online ticket booking platform for flights, hotels, buses and trains.

According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings accessed by Inc42, the company’s financial performance constituted:

• The company’s revenues from the sale of services were $9.21 Mn(INR 67.73 Cr), against $2.98 Mn (INR 21.91 Cr) in the previous year
• Advertisement revenue constituted 99% of the sale of services reaching $9.14 Mn (INR 67.23 Cr)
• The employee benefits for the year increased to $2.85 Mn (INR 21 Cr), a jump of 84% from $1.55 Mn (INR 11.4 Cr) of FY17
• Advertisement and sales promotion expense made up 66.8% of the total expenses reaching $10 Mn (INR 73.85 Cr)
• Total expenses for the year were $15.03 Mn (INR 110.53 Cr), an increase of 152% from $5.96 Mn (INR 43.85 Cr) for FY17
• The net loss for the year was $5.62 Mn (INR 41.33 Cr), an increase of 108% against $2.69 Mn (INR 19.78 Cr) in the previous year

ixigo CEO and co-founder Aloke Bajpai, said, “ixigo continues to improve upon its financial performance and build operating efficiencies to maintain a healthy growth. Our EBITDA margin has improved by 42% YoY driven by improved marketing efficiencies.”

Bajpai shared that the focus for the company in the coming year is to drive faster growth in next billion users through growth in the train, bus, budget hotel and first-time flyers segments while continuing to build innovative experiences for travellers in India.

In 2006, Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar founded travel search platform Ixigo. The startup claims to connect over 100 Mn travellers with content and deals from over 25,000 online as well as offline partners.

It aggregates and compares real-time travel information, prices, and the availability of flights, trains, buses, cabs, hotels, packages, and destinations.

The company has raised nearly $25.5 Mn funding from its investors, which includes Sequoia Capital, SAIF Partners, and Micromax, among others.

During Inc42 Facebook Live Ask Me Anything (AMA), Bajpai contradicted those who believe that a large-enough business cannot be built without spending hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing, especially in a B2C sector.

He said, “Here, we have 12 Mn monthly active users. In the cumulative decade, we have not spent more than $4 Mn-$5 Mn on marketing. That’s because we have consistently focussed on the product-user experience, making sure we deliver what we promise. That has to be the DNA of any good product company.”

The country’s overall travel market is estimated to become a $48 Bn industry within the next three years, according to a June 2017 Google India-BCG report. As ixigo claims,

Nearly 21 Mn predominantly mobile monthly active users and 90 Mn downloads across apps, ixigo continues to chart territories for its growth.

(The USD values mentioned in the story are at the current conversion rate: 1 INR = 0.0135 USD).