MakeMyTrip Invests In Customizable Itinerary Planning Startup Inspirock To Make Trip Planning Engaging

Gurgaon-based, MakeMyTrip has bought 18%  stake Inspirock Inc which is an online planning tool for developing customizable itineraries. The deal was made by the company’s Innovation Fund which was set up last september with plans to make investments globally in startups working on travel-related technology. The deal will help the company to increase its capabilities in online tour planning space.

This move comes a month after the it bought mygola. The company has made seven acquisitions till date. Talking about the deal, the management said that these two acquisitions are part of its plan to target “higher customer engagement during trip planning.” Company has advocated growth in previous fiscal year which is advocated by following financials.

It reported a 27.5% rise in revenues less service costs or net revenues to $36.4 Mn for Q4 ended March 31, 2015 over the year-ago period. Overall revenues increased by 12.7% to $68.6 Mn in the quarter. The net revenue in the hotels and packages category increased by 48.8% to $16.45Mn. An increase in net revenue margin from 12.1% to 15.7 %, driven by strong growth in its standalone hotel booking business.

“In line with the strategic objectives we had shared at the beginning of the year, our hotels and packages business accounted for 45% of our full year revenue less service costs. In the fiscal fourth quarter, mobile users accounted for more than 40 per cent of total online traffic and 22 % of online transactions in India,” said Deep Kalra, group chairman and Group CEO.

For the full year ending March 31, 2016 the company has given a guidance of revenue less service costs growth in the range of 22-26 %. The firm said it expects to see more contraction in net revenue margin for air ticketing business. Here’s a list of acquisitions company has made till date:-

Feb 2014: Acquired entire equity interest in EasyToBook.com for around $5 Mn to strengthen its travel technology stack and improve its hotel offerings in Europe.

Nov. 2012: Acquired majority stake in Thailand-based hotels aggregator ITC Group for $3.2 Mn. Also acquired South East Asia-focused Hotel Travel Group for $25 Mn.

Nov. 2011: Acquired Delhi based MyGuestHouse

Aug. 2011: Acquired majority stake of 76.6% for $18.5 Mn in online travel meta search engine iXigo along with SAIF Partners

Feb 2011: Acquired 79% stake in Singapore-based Luxury Tours & Travel Pte Limited (LTT) for around $3 Mn.

According to World Travel and Tourism Council, the contribution of travel and tourism to the global economy is expected to rise to 10.5% by 2025 from 9.8% in 2014, key to this increased contribution is expected strong growth in demand from emerging markets and a rising share of consumer spending on travel and tourism.