MakeMyTrip acquires travel startup Mygola
Mygola, founded by IIT Mumbai batchmates Bapna and Prateek Sharma in 2009, claims it can help travellers create custom trips in 15 minutes.
By Krithika Krishnamurthy, ET Bureau | Updated:
BENGALURU: Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip has acquired travel planning website Mygola, according to SEC filings.
"The Company (MakeMyTrip) expects that Mygola’s team’s deep understanding of travelers’ planning and in-destination experience preferences will be valuable in strengthening the Company’s proposition in these and related areas of customer engagement," said MakeMyTrip in its filing.
MakeMyTrip said the acquisition was done through its Innovation Fund, which is formed to invest in start-up or early-stage companies in the travel technology space.
ET could not immediately ascertain the size of the deal.
A source said all employees of Mygola have been retained and that co-founder Anshuman Bapna has started working closely with the MakeMyTrip team.
Mygola, founded by IIT Mumbai batchmates Bapna and Prateek Sharma in 2009, claims it can help travellers create custom trips in 15 minutes. Its app, which is present in 16 cities across the world, has up to 5,000 installs on the Google Playstore on Android.
The acquisition comes at a time when the Indian travel sector is heating up, having received $71 million (about Rs 440 crore) in funding so far in 2015, mostly in early-stage and seed funding, as opposed to $55 million in all of 2014, according to startup data tracker Tracxn.
Mygola’s mobile app uses technology to curate content -- videos, open/close hours, tips from travellers, panoramic views -- all on a massive scale, specific to individual user’s tastes.
The acquisition could potentially give MakeMyTrip a greater foothold in the mobile space.
“For travel, the shift to mobile has been more significant in India than any other market across the world,” said Ashish Kashyap, CEO of ibibo Group, MakeMyTrip’s direct competitor, which has over 50% of all its transactions on mobile. “We have been waiting for this shift to happen since the last 12-18 months, and now it has,” said Kashyap, declining to comment on the deal between MakeMyTrip and Mygola.
Helion Venture Partners, which led the $1.5 million round in 2013 for Mygola in October, was also an investor in MakeMyTrip. Prior to that, Mygola had raised $1 million from the US-based accelerator 500Startups, Blumberg Capital and a few angel investors.
Helion Ventures could not be reached for comment at the time of going to print.
Mygola’s acquisition is MakeMyTrip’s seventh buyout and its third takeover of an Indian company. MakeMyTrip listed on the NASDAQ in 2010, 10 years after Deep Kalra, a former executive of General Electric, founded the company.
The contribution of travel and tourism to the global economy is expected to rise to 10.5% by 2025 from 9.8% in 2014, according to World Travel and Tourism Council. “Key to this increased contribution is expected strong growth in demand from emerging markets and a rising share of consumer spending on travel and tourism,” the council said in its latest report.
Travel magazine Lonely Planet listed Mygola as one of the best apps and sites to plan, record and share trips. At the 2013 PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summit in Florida, Mygola was awarded the ‘The Brand USA Award for Travel Marketing Innovation’.
"The Company (MakeMyTrip) expects that Mygola’s team’s deep understanding of travelers’ planning and in-destination experience preferences will be valuable in strengthening the Company’s proposition in these and related areas of customer engagement," said MakeMyTrip in its filing.
MakeMyTrip said the acquisition was done through its Innovation Fund, which is formed to invest in start-up or early-stage companies in the travel technology space.
ET could not immediately ascertain the size of the deal.
A source said all employees of Mygola have been retained and that co-founder Anshuman Bapna has started working closely with the MakeMyTrip team.
Mygola, founded by IIT Mumbai batchmates Bapna and Prateek Sharma in 2009, claims it can help travellers create custom trips in 15 minutes. Its app, which is present in 16 cities across the world, has up to 5,000 installs on the Google Playstore on Android.
ADVERTISEMENT
The acquisition comes at a time when the Indian travel sector is heating up, having received $71 million (about Rs 440 crore) in funding so far in 2015, mostly in early-stage and seed funding, as opposed to $55 million in all of 2014, according to startup data tracker Tracxn.
Mygola’s mobile app uses technology to curate content -- videos, open/close hours, tips from travellers, panoramic views -- all on a massive scale, specific to individual user’s tastes.
The acquisition could potentially give MakeMyTrip a greater foothold in the mobile space.
“For travel, the shift to mobile has been more significant in India than any other market across the world,” said Ashish Kashyap, CEO of ibibo Group, MakeMyTrip’s direct competitor, which has over 50% of all its transactions on mobile. “We have been waiting for this shift to happen since the last 12-18 months, and now it has,” said Kashyap, declining to comment on the deal between MakeMyTrip and Mygola.
ADVERTISEMENT
Helion Venture Partners, which led the $1.5 million round in 2013 for Mygola in October, was also an investor in MakeMyTrip. Prior to that, Mygola had raised $1 million from the US-based accelerator 500Startups, Blumberg Capital and a few angel investors.
Helion Ventures could not be reached for comment at the time of going to print.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mygola’s acquisition is MakeMyTrip’s seventh buyout and its third takeover of an Indian company. MakeMyTrip listed on the NASDAQ in 2010, 10 years after Deep Kalra, a former executive of General Electric, founded the company.
The contribution of travel and tourism to the global economy is expected to rise to 10.5% by 2025 from 9.8% in 2014, according to World Travel and Tourism Council. “Key to this increased contribution is expected strong growth in demand from emerging markets and a rising share of consumer spending on travel and tourism,” the council said in its latest report.
Travel magazine Lonely Planet listed Mygola as one of the best apps and sites to plan, record and share trips. At the 2013 PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summit in Florida, Mygola was awarded the ‘The Brand USA Award for Travel Marketing Innovation’.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Related Articles
MakeMyTrip launches early check-in and late check-out offering at scale
Pranbihanga Borpuzari, ET Bureau
The year 2014 marked one of the greatest technological achievements for the country when the premier space agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully landed a spacecraft on planet Mars.
Hailed and applauded for doing it at a fraction of a cost and in its first attempt, ISRO's Mars Orbiter has produced a huge fillip to technology in the country. What has remained largely under the radar is that a significant part of the technology has in fact come from our small and medium technology companies from across the country.
As the year draws to a close and we set our sights on 2015, we feature 15 startups that hold great promise. From a startup wanting to land on the moon to a startup providing fully compostable sanitary pads, India's new breed of entrepreneurs aim to reach for the stars and at the same time stay grounded by solving various problems in our society.
The year 2014 marked one of the greatest technological achievements for the country when the premier space agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully landed a spacecraft on planet Mars.
Hailed and applauded for doing it at a fraction of a cost and in its first attempt, ISRO's Mars Orbiter has produced a huge fillip to technology in the country. What has remained largely under the radar is that a significant part of the technology has in fact come from our small and medium technology companies from across the country.
As the year draws to a close and we set our sights on 2015, we feature 15 startups that hold great promise. From a startup wanting to land on the moon to a startup providing fully compostable sanitary pads, India's new breed of entrepreneurs aim to reach for the stars and at the same time stay grounded by solving various problems in our society.
ADVERTISEMENT
