SAIF Partners, which invested in MakeMyTrip’s Series B and Series C round of funding, has now sold its entire remaining stake in the company. The transactions are estimated to have fetched SAIF the largest cash exit in India’s venture capital industry.
Since October, the VC firm has shed its balance 11 percent holding in MakeMyTrip, India’s largest online travel agency as the Nasdaq-listed company’s stock price surged by over 50% following its merger with the Ibibo Group. According to the travel agency’s filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, SAIF Partners’ funds now hold zero shares in Makemytrip.
SAIF is estimated to have earned more than $400 million on its investments in MakeMyTrip, reaping 16 times the money it put in, based on regulatory filings and assessments by two people familiar with the transactions.
The venture capital firm had invested about $25 million in the travel company between 2005 and 2008 and owned about 41 percent stake in the company when it debuted on Nasdaq in 2010.
This phenomenal kind of exit is very rare in the Indian market. VCs in India are finding it tough to generate cash from their investments as very few portfolio companies have opted for initial public offerings of their shares. While there have been a lot of acquisitions in past years, most of these were structured as primarily stock deals.
While SAIF Partners has been selling its MakeMyTrip stock, mutual funds and hedge funds including Wasatch Advisors, Capital World Investors, Janus Capital and Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb have been buying into the company.
MakeMyTrip was founded in the year 2000 by Deep Kalra, Keyur Joshi, and Rajesh Magow. It is an online travel company providing holiday packages, travel guides, and booking services for flights, hotels and buses, along with holiday packages and tour guides. It went public on Nasdaq on August 20, 2010.
In 2011, MakeMyTrip, along with its largest share holder at that time — SAIF Partners, picked up 76.6% stake for $18.5 million in Le Travenues Technology, which operates online travel search engine www.Ixigo.com. The company was launched in 2007 and is promoted by Aloke Bajpai, Rajnish Kumar and Dharmendra Yashovardhan.
