Online bus booking platform, Travelyaari, which aims to simplify and streamline bus ticketing processes, has raised $7 million in its Series B round of funding. The round was led by Gujarat Venture Finance Limited (GVFL), Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd and a few other investors.
With the new capital coming to the company, it will be used to facilitate product development as well as business growth for Travelyaari. It will also used the fund to further augment its service network and increase the online penetration of bus bookings.
A couple of months ago, the company had raised $3 million in a bridge round from its existing investors GVFL through its Golden Gujarat Growth Fund I.
While the company was founded in 2007 by Aurvind Lama and Partha Sinha, it started commercial operation from 2008. Till now, the company has raised around $3 million from Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd, GVFL and Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE).
The company says that more than 5,000 road travel service providers will now be integrated with the platform, along with more channel partners and agents. It also plans to increase its customer base by targeting the middle class segment across India.
Speaking on the investment, Mr. Aurvind Lama Co-founder and CEO, Mantis Technologies Pvt. Ltd. which owns Travelyaari said,
Travelyaari was established as a platform that enables online bus ticketing processes through reliable services and end-to-end technology solutions for different players in the industry.
The latest investment into Travelyaari is yet another reflection of the company’s superior product and deep-rooted supply chain not only in Tier 1, but also in Tier 2 and 3 cities. We will be looking to utilise this fresh induction of capital to further strengthen our B2B & B2C offerings and to achieve greater business growth.
In addition to its B2C bus ticketing service, the platform offers B2B solutions to nearly 2,000 bus operators through its Bus ERP product called BusCRS and is also the provider of the largest inventory distribution service to online and offline travel agents through its global distribution system, iamGDS.
Rahul Bhutiani from Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd, said,
Organising the unorganised bus operators industry, creating digitalized bus ticket inventory and then leveraging it to run a GDS business as well as a B2C portal is no easy task.
Despite the challenges, the dedication and effort of the team behind Travelyaari has resulted in an exponential growth for the platform. Its success is a testament to the viability of its business model in the Indian market, and gives us confidence as investors to support the company’s continued growth through capital investment.
