Online travel search engine ixigo strengthens leadership team

Delhi-based Le Travenues Technology Pvt Ltd, which runs online travel search engine ixigo.com, has strengthened its leadership team by hiring former officials of HolidayIQ and Sify.

The company has roped in Manivel Kulandaivelu as VP, travel marketplace and Arivartan Kukreti as national head, ad sales, to its leadership team.

Prior to joining ixigo, Manivel was VP, revenue and special projects at HolidayIQ, a travel information and review portal run by Bangalore-based Leisure and Lifestyle Information Services Pvt Ltd. He has also worked with BharatMatrimony and ChennaiOnline.

Parivartan has held senior sales, media and marketing roles with Sify (NASDAQ-listed Indian internet and IT services firm), The Times Group (IndiaTimes) and the India Today Group. He has over 14 years of experience in the media industry.

"Our business is at an inflection point, having crossed 5 million monthly unique visitors and over 200 million monthly screen-views. We are shifting gears to focus on monetisation through some path-breaking solutions for travel businesses and media advertisers," said Aloke Bajpai, co-founder and CEO of ixigo.

Founded by INSEAD and Amadeus alumni Rajnish Kumar and Bajpai in 2007, ixigo provides search, aggregation and curation travel content across hundreds of travel sites, allowing travelers to access relevant travel information.

In 2011, the company had raised $18.5 million in funding from SAIF Partners and NASDAQ-listed OTA MakeMyTrip. It competes with players such as Wego India, Kayak India, Sycanner and others.

In April, ixigo had launched a new app named 'ixigo cabs' which aggregates cab information and helps Indian travelers find cabs around them anywhere in India. Earlier this year, it also revamped its trip planner product by adding a slew of features, including Google Street View, location-based search and user-generated ratings and reviews.