Online travel portal Wego secures $17M in Series C

Singapore-based Wego Pte Ltd, which runs the online travel portal Wego.com, has secured $17 million in a Series C funding round, led by Crescent Point and Victoria Capital, with participation from existing investor Tiger Global.

Wego, which launched the India operations in Bangalore last year with the country specific site wego.co.in, will use the money to expand its product portfolio and scale up marketing activities. It is not immediately clear if a part of the fund will also be used to expand its team in India. We have contacted the company and will update this report as soon as we get the details.

With the new round, Wego's total funding reached $36 million. As per the agreement, Paul Bassat from Victoria Capital and a Crescent Point representative have joined Wego's board of directors, according to a press statement.

Headquartered in Singapore, Wego.com is available in more than 50 localised country sites and 30 languages in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions. The company has regional offices in Jakarta and Dubai, besides Bangalore. Wego claims it generates more than $10 million per day of potential bookings for its travel partners and has experienced rapid growth in recent years.

Started in May 2012, Wego India offers a comparison tool for all kind of travel-related searches—from flights to hotels to tour packages and deals—from various Indian OTAs, including MakeMyTrip, Yatra and Via. It works like a data aggregator and the search results from various vendors are listed on the platform.

In February this year, Wego India general manager Jackson Fernandez told Techcircle.in that it would soon come up with a bus and taxi booking search platform. He said the company is looking to double its current team size of 10 in India. He also said Wego India has seen a rapid escalation of growth in the country with visits to Wego.co.in tripling since launch and revenue increasing 446 per cent. Within six months of its independent launch, it saw a month-on-month increase of 15-20 per cent in terms of site visits.

Wego India competes with players like iXiGO, Ezeego and niche travel-related sites like Oravel and Travelmob. The niche travel segment has seen a lot of interest as more players are entering this space with unique offerings. Asked about other players in the same space, Fernandez said iXiGO has an early mover advantage but Wego's global presence works as a differentiator for the company. "When we list any OTA, we are presenting it to a global audience. We have a global network and that is our USP," he said.

Wego Singapore (Wego.com) had merged with Bangalore-based travel information and review portal HolidayIQ in 2010. However, it demerged in February this year.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)