Ibibo Acquires Stake In Latin American Bus Ticketing Platform Busportal

Online travel venture Ibibo Group has acquired a majority stake in Peru-based bus ticketing platform Busportal (Empresa Digital Peruana S.A.C.) for an undisclosed amount.

The investment in Busportal will give ibibo Group’s redBus an entry into online bus ticketing markets in Latin America, such as Peru, Colombia and Chile.

Busportal is an online bus ticketing platform in Peru. The website allows users to compare and purchase bus tickets from several bus operators with a few clicks. The application allows users to book bus tickets from more than 20 Bus operators in Peru and covers more than 70% of the routes.

The co-founders of Busportal, Hassan Bourgi and Carol Riboud, will continue to drive the operations in Peru and further expand into Colombia and Chile.

Carol Riboud Co-Founder of Busportal said, “The arrival of redBus will enable bus operators to use the technological tools of redBus to optimise their revenues and the industry will tend to be more organised to the benefit of consumers. We are happy to be part of this change and help both bus companies and bus customers”.

On the other hand redBus offers services of over 2,300 bus operators across 70,000 routes in India. Last year in July, redBus expanded its operations in Singapore and Malaysia.

Prior to this, in June 2013, ibiboGroup, a joint venture between South Africa’s Naspers and Chinese Internet company Tencent, acquired a controlling stake in online bus ticketing firm redBus, valuing it at about $140 Mn (INR 800 Cr).

Ibibo, founded by Ashish Kashyap, and the Naspers group, is an online travel group with integrated travel properties such as goibibo.com; YourBus (Vehicle tracking application) and recently launched car sharing app, ibiboRyde.