Ticketgoose gets angel funding from R. Narayanan, others

Online bus ticketing service Ticketgoose, run by Chennai-based Efficsys Infotech India Pvt Ltd, has secured Rs 3 crore ($560,000) from angel investor and former Gums India CEO R Narayanan and a group of other investors based in the US.

The Chennai-based startup, which operates from Bangalore and Hyderabad, will use a major chunk of the money to expand its presence into other parts of the country.

"We are expanding to other cities, including Pune and Goa and are under the process of setting up offices there. We are also planning to use a part of the funds to innovate our technology in order to provide an enhanced experience to our customers and enable them to book tickets faster," Ticketgoose co-founder and director Karthi Easwaramoorthy told TechCircle.

The startup has already hired 10 in Pune and eight in Goa. "We expect around 500 ticket bookings from each location in the next couple of months," he added.

Launched in 2007 by Easwaramoorthy, Arun Athiappan and Vasu Ramasamy, TicketGoose offers online booking facility, as well as information on pricing and availability, and covers around 4,500 destinations across southern India. The company currently has around 100 employees. In July this year, it raised $800,000 from a few US-based investors and is looking to clock Rs 125 crore revenue for FY13.

In last May, Ticketgoose's competitor and one of the leading players in the online bus ticket booking segment, Redbus secured $6.5 million from a consortium of investors led by Helion Ventures.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)