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— Peden Doma Bhutia
Indian online travel agency EaseMyTrip.com on Monday confirmed its investment in business-to-business (B2B) travel portal ETrav Tech.
The deal is worth 330 million rupees ($4 million) and will see EaseMyTrip secure a 4.94% stake in the Mumbai-based company.
ETrav Tech specializes in providing travel application programming interfaces (APIs) to businesses, allowing them to access competitive travel deals and content from global travel suppliers. These services include flight ticket APIs, holiday packages, hotel APIs, bus APIs, and visa services.
As revealed in EaseMyTrip's regulatory filing on Sunday, ETrav Tech is expanding its reach internationally with an office in Dubai.
Through this investment, EaseMyTrip aims to leverage ETrav Tech's technological capabilities and expertise to serve B2B customers. According to EaseMyTrip, this is expected to enhance its service offering to corporate customers.
“We are aiming to diversify our portfolio in areas other than aviation. After investing in hotels, we would like to strengthen our services for corporate customers in the future. This will be extremely important for our customers,” said Nishant Pitti, CEO and Co-Founder of EaseMyTrip.
Increasingly diverse business
EaseMyTrip has aggressively expanded its footprint in recent years through acquisitions in various travel sectors.
The company reported that its consolidated net profit for the fiscal year ending December 2023 will be 456 million rupees ($5.5 million), an increase of 9.6% year-on-year. Additionally, operating revenue surged to 1.61 billion rupees ($19.3 million) in December, up 18% year-on-year.
Earlier this year, EaseMyTrip entered the insurance space by establishing a subsidiary, EaseMyTrip Insurance Broker, marking a strategic diversification of its service portfolio.
The company aims to enter the lucrative insurance market by meeting customer needs through specialized products.
“This new business solidifies EasMyTrip's position in the industry and expands EasMyTrip's unique user base of 20 million to 7 trillion It is expected to serve a market of 900 billion rupees ($95 billion).”
EaseMyTrip’s Latest Investment
Previously speaking to Skift, EaseMyTrip co-founder Prashant Pitti said the company is currently focused on acquiring profitable, technology-driven, asset-light and disruptive companies. He said the company is aiming to grow its non-aviation business.
Aiming to strengthen its non-aviation business, e-sMyTrip last year acquired controlling stakes in several travel companies in India. These include Guideline Travels, TripShope Travel Technologies, and Dook Travels.
The company also acquired a 55% stake in hotel reservation marketplace CheQin, owned by Gleego Innovations, for approximately $370,000.
The company acquired a 75% stake in Nutana Aviation Capital in December 2022 for approximately $185,000. Nutana Aviation Capital leases charter aircraft and provides charter services.
Additionally, the company increased its presence in the hotel industry by acquiring a non-controlling stake of approximately 13% in Eco Hotels and Resorts.
In February, EaseMyTrip announced a joint venture investment of up to Rs 1 billion ($12 million) in a five-star hotel project in Ayodhya in collaboration with Jeewani Hospitality. The move is consistent with the company's strategy to expand its offerings beyond traditional travel services.
OTA has also partnered with Punjab National Bank, India's public sector bank, to launch a co-branded travel credit card that caters to both mass and premium customer segments.
The airline made headlines earlier this year when it suspended all bookings for flights to the Maldives in response to India's #BoycottMaldives movement, which was sparked by a diplomatic dispute between the two countries.
Photo Credit: EaseMyTrip aims to strengthen its service offering to corporate customers through its investment in ETrav Tech.
