Women-focused travel startup WoVoyage secures seed funding

WoVoyage, a travel startup for women, has raised an undisclosed sum of seed funding from Singapore-based investors Shabir Momin and Rohit Nanda, a company statement said.

Momin is the co-founder of Zenga Media, an over-the-top digital video platform, while Nanda is a finance professional based in Singapore.

The New Delhi-based startup will use the capital to expand its tech-enabled services and products by developing offerings such as booking services, search and planning platforms, on-demand travel, and recommendation sites, the statement added.

Run by Wovoyage Travel Pvt Ltd, the startup was founded in 2016 by Rashmi Chadha, an entrepreneur who has previously also set up Women Backpackers.

WoVoyage provides risk-free and safe tours for female foreign travelers by teaming them up with women tour guides and helping them design their tours. It offers group departures, recreational activities and concept tours such as photography, rejuvenation, yoga, trekking, cycling, etc.

It currently has operations in India and Japan.

“Building a well-established platform, which is a one-stop travel destination, and taking it one notch above every year are my top priorities. We are working on various new developments to make this platform more dynamic and robust,” said Chadha in the statement.

Deals in the travel-tech space

The past few months have seen a number of startups in the travel space have raise funding from investors.

Most recently, early this month, US-based software firm Ebix Inc, the parent of ItzCash Card Ltd, acquired luxury travel companies Mercury Travels Ltd and Leisure Corp for about $14.2 million (around Rs 95 crore) in total. The deal will strengthen Ebix’s presence in the luxury, events and sports travel segments.

In July, local experiences marketplace Headout Inc. raised $10 million (around Rs 68 crore) in a Series A funding round from existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Version One Ventures.

A number of travel ventures raised venture capital investment in April this year, including Delhi-based online travel marketplace TripShelf, holiday-packages marketplace TravelTriangle and Mihuru Pvt. Ltd, a startup that offers micro loans for air travel.

In March, corporate travel management platform Tripeur raised $600,000 (Rs 3.90 crore) in a pre-Series A round led by Japan-based Incubate Fund.