MakeMyTrip Raises $10 Mn From Its Parent Company in Mauritius

Gurugram-based online travel aggregator MakeMyTrip has received $10 Mn (INR 69 Cr) investment from its Mauritius-based parent company MakeMyTrip Limited. The parent company has infused over $24.74 Mn (INR 170 Cr) in its Indian arm in the current calendar year, as revealed by the ROC filings.

The development comes at a time when MakeMyTrip has recently invested an undisclosed amount in Bengaluru-based Bitla Software in order to utilise the latter’s solutions for the bus and hotel supplier sector. Its India’s arm contributes about 85% revenues to the Nasdaq-listed parent company MakeMyTrip.

According to the filing by the company with Nasdaq, “Marketing and sales promotion expenses of MakeMyTrip have increased by 19.1% to $93.9 Mn in the quarter ended March 31, 2018, from $78.8 Mn in the quarter ended March 31, 2017.”

The filing also stated that the marketing and sales promotion expenses primarily include significant customer inducement and acquisition programme expenses incurred to accelerate growth in their standalone hotel booking business and brand advertisement expenses.

MakeMyTrip group after its merger with Ibibo has been spending significantly on customer inducement and acquisition. The primary drivers of this year-to-year increase were the consolidation of marketing and sales promotion expenses of the Ibibo Group acquired on January 31, 2017.

MakeMyTrip: An Overview

Recently, MakeMyTrip raised funds through a rights issue done by its Nasdaq-listed parent valuing the company at around $3.8 Bn (INR 26,000 Cr). The company has also invested in companies such as Fabhotels, GoFro, HolidayIQ, Inspirock, ixigo.com, Simplotel, and Mygola.com.

Further, it has partnered with OYO as the partnership will allow in bringing together OYO’s economy, mid-segment and vacation rental assets and MakeMyTrip’s travel customer base, including GoIbibo and RedBus.

Similarly, MakeMyTrip has partnered with ecommerce company Flipkart to leverage latter’s growing consumer base of over 100 Mn to drive online bookings in travel services.

MakeMyTrip has roped in Bollywood celebrities such as Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, and Diana Penty for its multi-TVC campaign.

Country’s travel market (both offline and online) is expected to touch $48 Bn by 2020, according to a Google India-BCG report. Companies such as Paytm, ixigo, Yatra have also been catering to the travel sector. Recently, online travel company Yatra had recently reported a revenue jump of 36% whereas its losses fell to $5.57 Mn for the quarter ending March 31, 2018.

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