India will see yet another tech upstart, trying its luck in the country’s high performing public markets. Le Travenues Technology, the parent company of the popular online travel platform Ixigo, is now gearing up for its initial public offering (IPO). It is set to open on Monday, June 10, with the offering its shares in the price range of ₹88 to ₹93 per share.
The IPO will remain accessible for bids for three days, concluding on June 12th. To facilitate participation from large investors, a dedicated anchor investor bidding window will be open on June 7th. Investors can apply for a minimum of 161 equity shares, with the subscription period extending until Wednesday, June 12, 2024. This minimum investment amount makes the IPO accessible to a broader range of investors. Prominent venture capital firms like SAIF Partners and Peak XV Partners, alongside notable individual shareholders such as Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar, will be offloading a portion of their holdings through the OFS.
The IPO will include a fresh issuance of shares worth ₹120 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 66,677,674 equity shares by existing shareholders, which totals approximately ₹620.10 crore. At the upper end of the price band, the total capital raised through the IPO is expected to be around ₹740 crore. The key selling shareholders in the OFS include SAIF Partners India IV, Peak XV Partners Investments V, Aloke Bajpai, Rajnish Kumar, Micromax Informatics, Placid Holdings, Madison India Capital, and Capital Trusteeship. The anchor book for the IPO will open tomorrow, on Friday, June 7.
The IPO allocation is structured to include 75% of the net offer for qualified institutional bidders, 15% for non-institutional investors, and 10% for retail investors. Axis Capital, DAM Capital Advisors (formerly IDFC Securities), and JM Financial are the book-running lead managers for the IPO, with Link Intime India as the registrar. The shares will be listed on both the BSE and NSE, with a tentative listing date of Tuesday, June 18, 2024.
Proceeds garnered from the fresh issue of equity shares will be allocated to bolster Ixigo’s core functionalities. A significant portion, approximately ₹45 crore, will be directed towards strengthening the company’s working capital requirements. Additionally, ₹26 crore will be invested in technology and data science initiatives. Beyond fortifying its core operations, Ixigo also plans to leverage the capital raised to fuel inorganic growth. This could involve strategic acquisitions of complementary businesses or technologies that would further enhance Ixigo’s service offerings and market reach. The remaining funds will be used for general corporate purposes.
While MakeMyTrip, and its self-owned GoIbibo are two of the more popular online travel platforms within India, Ixigo too has carved a niche for itself, banking on unique promotional strategies and exclusive offers that pulls users towards its platform. Additionally, apart from just flights, the platform offers a user-friendly interface that has resulted in it seeing a high number of train reservations as well.
Ixigo claims an impressive 83 million monthly active users across its apps, making it one of the most utilized OTAs in the industry, and its suite of travel-related services include PNR status and confirmation predictions, train seat availability alerts, train running status updates, and flight status updates. Other features include automated web check-in, bus running status, price and availability alerts, as well as AI-based travel planning services and automated customer support.
The platform also demonstrated strong financial performance – for the nine months ended December 31, 2023, the company reported a net profit of ₹65.81 crore and a revenue of ₹497.10 crore. In the fiscal year 2022-23, Ixigo recorded a net profit of ₹23.40 crore on a revenue of ₹517.57 crore. These figures highlight the company’s successful business model and robust financial health.
