Bangalore-based travel customisation marketplace startup TripFactory has raised an undisclosed amount in Series A round of funding from Aarin Capital Partners led by former Infosys Ltd board member T.V. Mohandas Pai and Manipal Group chairman Dr. Ranjan Pai.
The startup will use the funds raised in building a strong technology team and mobile expertise. Further, it will be opening an office in Manila later this year, as part of its global expansion plans. Currently, about 70% of TripFactory’s customers are domestic.
Founded in 2013 by Vinay Gupta, Amit Aggarwal and Ashley Monteiro, TripFactory is a holiday customisation platform wherein consumers can buy their holidays the way they want, either by customizing online themselves or seek any assistance from the experts. “The startup offers real-time customization abilities, combining search, content, and social recommendations all on one platform”, CEO Vinay Gupta told ET.
In simple words, the company wants to make life easy for its users by providing vast choice and best prices with the best of search and discovery tools to help them find and book a perfect holiday.
TripFactory has currently partnered with over 2,800 tour operators in 38 countries to offer users a customizable trip packages. It has sold $2 Mn worth of holiday packages since its launch, which it plans to take to $70 Mn by year end.
Its search engine makes use of natural language processing algorithms and machine learning programmes to compute itineraries at the lowest fares. TripFactory earns a share of every holiday booked on its platform and has around 1,000 offline travel businesses registered with it in India.
The Indian travel and tourism industry which was valued at $113 Bn back in 2013 is expected to grow over 6% CAGR until 2024, according to the reports.
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