ixigo raises pre-IPO round from GIC, Malabar India Fund, others

Ahead of its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), travel and hotel booking service provider ixigo has raised Rs 270.3 crore (about $36.5 million) in a funding round led by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC. 

The round saw participations from Malabar India Fund, a hedge fund run by New York-based Sumeet Nagar; Info Edge (IE) Venture Fund; private investment firm Bay Capital; India Acorn Fund, which was floated by former Goldman Sachs emerging market fund manager Prashant Khemka; and venture debt firm Trifecta, regulatory filings showed. 

GIC invested Rs 185.32 crore ($25 million) and Malabar India Fund put in Rs 43 crore ($5.8 million).  

ixigo received Rs 15 crore ($2 million) from IE Venture Fund and Rs 12 crore ($1.6 million) each from India Acorn Fund and Bay Capital. Trifecta invested Rs 3 crore ($405,00). 

ixigo, however, did not respond to TechCircle queries. 

According to a report by The Economic Times, the Gurugram-based company raised a total of Rs 395 crore in a mix of primary and secondary transactions, with White Oak and Orios VenturePartners also joining the round.  

Quoting unnamed sources, the report said the company will float its shares on the public market in the fourth quarter of the current calendar year and is looking at a valuation in the range of $750-800 million for the IPO. 
 
In May, ixigo appointed Ravi Shanker Gupta as its chief financial officer to accelerate its IPO process.

Following food delivery unicorn Zomato’s strong debut on the stock markets, several consumer internet startups are lining up to tap the public market for growth.  

Payments platforms Paytm and Mobikwik, both from the burgeoning fintech sector, filed their draft red herring prospectus recently for $2.2 billion and $255 million floats respectively.   

The pipeline of imminent IPOs in the medium terms has a host of other homegrown internet companies, including Walmart-owned Flipkart, logistics platform Delhivery, fashion and beauty platform Nykaa, and insurance marketplace Policybazar in the fray. Also lining up for an IPO this year is SaaS unicorn Freshworks. 

ixigo was set up in 2007. The platform applies artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities for personalised recommendations and deal discovery, airfare predictions, train delay information, and customer service.   

Earlier in the year, ixigo acquired train discovery and booking entity Confirmtkt in a cash and stock deal.