MakeMyTrip Acquires Corporate Travel Startup Quest2Travel

Gurugram-headquartered online travel company MakeMyTrip has acquired a majority stake in Mumbai-based corporate travel management startup Quest2Travel for an undisclosed amount.

Deep Kalra, founder and group CEO, MakeMyTrip said that the investment will help the company to extend its service offerings to large corporates for their travel requirements.

NASDAQ-listed MMT said that through Q2T’s enterprise software, large corporate clients are able to manage their end-to-end employee travel needs on a real-time basis, in a transparent and secure manner.

Quest2Travel: How It Fits With MakeMyTrip?

Founded in 2000, Quest2Travel offers an end-to-end workflow for employees to put in their travel requisitions, get approvals and make travel policy compliant bookings for air etc. The employees can also avail services relating to foreign exchange, travel insurance, visas, passport applications etc.

Kalra said, “This investment will help Quest2Travel benefit from the travel expertise and depth of supplier relationships that MakeMyTrip has forged over the years. We have historically focused on providing travel solutions for retail customers and with this investment we are making a decisive foray into providing travel solutions for corporate customers as well.”

Q2T has been enhancing its platform to meet the requirements of corporate clients and has over 200 clients including Tata Motors, Aditya Birla Group, Times Group, HDFC Ergo and Thermax.

Abhay Rangnekar, founder and CEO of Q2T said, “This partnership is a perfect fit because it combines the best in corporate travel with the leader in non-corporate travel. Amongst other benefits, it will help us offer superior service offerings with wider inventory and better pricing for air, hotel bookings and other employee travel services.”

MakeMyTrip’s Business Growth

MakeMyTrip has been a leading online travel aggregator and leverages its acquisitions such as  Goibibo and Redbus to reach a larger audience.

Here’s a look at recent happenings at MMT:

• Naspers sold its stake in MakeMyTrip to Chinese travel agency Ctrip. Following the deal, Naspers will own 5.6% of Ctrip’s outstanding ordinary shares, while Ctrip and the third-party investment entity will own ordinary shares and class B shares of MakeMyTrip representing approximately 49.0% and 4.0% of MakeMyTrip’s total voting rights, respectively.
• For the fiscal quarter ended December 30, 2018, the company increased its gross bookings to $1.4 Bn, which is a 16.67% Q-o-Q growth against $1.2 Bn in Q2 FY 2018-19. .
• MakeMyTrip generated 31.4% Y-o-Y growth in adjusted revenue, reaching $179.9 Mn for the third quarter of FY 2018-19
• MakeMyTrip is reportedly planning to opt out of the government scheme on accreditation of OTAs. The aggregator maintains that it can’t be assessed under the scheme, since it is a technology platform.

Corporate Travel As Part Of Online Travel Market

India’s OTA market is expected to touch $13.6 Bn by 2021, accounting for almost 43% of the total travel category in the country, according to a report by Praxis Global.

Within this, the business travel market is expected to reach $93 Bn by 2030, as business travel spending in India is projected to record a compound annual growth rate of 12% through 2020.

In the day and age of online travel aggregators, the niche market for travel corporate solutions is a force to reckon with as travel for work has become an increasing part of India’s business culture.