Early-stage VC Jungle Ventures invests $1 million in hotel booking engine Commeasure

NEW DELHI : Noida and Singapore-based startup Commeasure has raised a seed round of $1 million, led by venture capital firm Jungle Ventures, which recently made the news after its portfolio company ZipDial was acquired by micro-blogging platform Twitter.

Proceeds from the investment round will be used by the year-old company to expand its presence in south-east Asia, as well as build on its technology stack, according to Amit Saberwal, founder and chief executive of Commeasure.

Apart from Jungle Ventures, a public market fund has also participated in the round, but Saberwal did not disclose the name of the latter, or the stakes picked up by the new investors in the company post funding.

Founded in 2014 by Saberwal and Asheesh Saxena, with seed capital of $370,000, Commeasure’s technology platform includes a booking engine, training and online distribution.

The company, which currently caters to small and mid-sized hotel chains, claims to have about 500 customers spread across India and South East Asia, including, Classic Group, Clarks Group of hotels and Sarovar Hotels.

Commeasure provides end-to-end plug-and-play services, including, distribution across online channels, pricing across target markets and booking of rooms for independent hotel chains.

"It has to be a seamless process. We ensure that the pricing is right, and relative to the eco-system and the competition," said Saberwal.

Commeasure competes with various web developers as well as leading travel distribution service providers, such as Sabre Hospitality Solutions.

Prior to starting the venture, both, Saberwal and Saxena, played critical roles in building and developing online travel agency MakeMyTrip's hotel business.

While Saberwal was the Nasdaq-listed venture’s chief business officer, Saxena was director, Technology Development - Online Hotels for MakeMyTrip.

New investor Jungle Ventures scored an exit from Bengaluru-based missed call marketing firm ZipDial, in January earlier this year, after it was acquired by social media giant twitter for about $30 million.

The Singapore-based venture capital firm also counts companies, such as online grocery retailer EkStopShop and online micro lending platform Milaap among its India portfolio.