Ixigo Acqui-Hires Indian Backpacker; Founder Akshay Chhugani Joins Ixigo As Head, Traveller Communities

ixigo, mobile travel search marketplace has announced that it has completed the acquisition of all intellectual property of Desi Backpacking Travelers Pvt. Ltd., company that runs IndianBackpacker.com, a community for budget travellers.

The amount of acquisition has been left undisclosed. As a part of the deal, Akshay Chhugani, Founder & CEO of The Indian Backpacker will also be joining ixigo as “Head, Traveller Communities”.

Aloke Bajpai, Co-Founder & CEO, ixigo said – “As a part of ixigo’s vision of simplifying the lives of Indian travelers, we want to build a strong connection with communities of travelers who possess a shared passion, purpose or taste. Akshay has traveled extensively through India on a shoestring budget and has mastered the art of spending less and traveling more in terms of budget accommodation, destinations and experiences.”

At ixigo, Akshay will be responsible to build and nurture curated communities of travelers across interest areas.

A travel enthusiast since he was 16, Akshay has stayed at Ashrams, trekked to the hills, tried out local street food at small towns and made new friends from across the globe. In a short time, he made IndianBackpacker.com a credible source of information and bookings for backpackers coming to India.

Akshay’s previous projects also include working with companies like Exposure Media Marketing (which publishes Selling World Travel magazine), Eventus India and Aegis Global Vantedge. Apart from that he had volunteered actively with Yuvraj Singh Foundation, YouWeCan and was heading all their alliances and communications.

ixigo has recently raised an investment from Micromax, and is now looking to grow five-fold to reach over 30 Mn monthly active mobile users by the end of 2016.

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