Travel-tech startup Guiddoo gets two new investors

Travel technology firm Guiddoo World Travels Pvt. Ltd has raised an undisclosed sum in fresh funding from two new investors.

In a statement, the Mumbai-based company said that US-headquartered venture capital firm SOSV and Australia-based VC firm Artesian, via its Chinese fund, have pumped in capital.

Guiddoo said the money will be used to grow its footprint in China and to boost its product development and operations on the ground. Guiddoo also plans to add new destinations in the Middle East and Africa to its portfolio, the statement added.

“China is a potential market for us, and this investment will give us the wings to fly higher,” said Vineet Budki, co-founder and chief executive officer of Guiddoo.

The fundraise comes three months after Guiddoo secured $800,000 (about Rs 5.6 crore then) in an extended pre-Series A round from three individual investors. In June 2017, it raised $300,000 (Rs 1.9 crore then) in a pre-Series A round from a bunch of individual investors.

Guiddoo had also raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from a clutch of angel investors in 2015.

Guiddoo

The company was founded in 2014 by Budki, Nidhi Varma, Prashant Choudhary and Biswajeet Karmakar. It started as a tour guide app but in 2016 it evolved to an in-destination platform offering tours and activities, dining, shopping and entertainment options.

Predominantly a business-to-business (B2B) company, it offers its services across 15 international destinations and has tie-ups with over 4,000 travel agent partners including Cleartrip & Yatra, besides running an Android app. 

Guiddoo has a presence in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. It claims to have handled more than 5,000 excursions and over 30, 000 customers across 15 destinations.

Recent deals in the segment

Last month, PickYourTrail, a travel tech startup that helps travellers plan and book multi-country vacations online, raised close to $3 million (Rs 21 crore then) in its Series A funding round.

In October last year, tour operator Thomas Cook (India) Ltd had agreed to pick up a 24% stake in Mumbai-based Traveljunkie Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which runs Ithaka, an app offering chat-based real-time travel advice from destination experts.

The same month, TravelTriangle, an online marketplace for holiday packages, raised $3 million (around Rs 22 crore at current exchange rates) in venture debt from InnoVen Capital. It had raised $12 million (Rs 78 crore) in a Series C round of funding led by growth-capital firm Fundamentum Partnership in April 2018.

In August, WoVoyage, a travel startup for women, secured seed funding from Singapore-based investors Shabir Momin and Rohit Nanda.