South African based media and ecommerce conglomerate Naspers announced on Wednesday that it has invested $250 million (R3.9 billion) into ibibo, an Indian online travel venture. By Staff Writer
The JSE-listed firm said in a statement that the investment will be used to extend ibibo’s leadership position in the Indian hotels category and on additional technology innovations.
“The Indian ecommerce market, and the online travel segment in particular, offers exciting growth prospects for us as a group. With a talented, proven management team and exceptional technology, ibibo is well positioned to benefit from an increasing number of people using online travel services going forward,” Naspers Group CEO, Bob van Dijk said in a statement.
Ibibo processed more than 6.5 million transactions for the period October to December 2015. It is the largest online travel company in India, generating more than 2.5x the transaction volumes of its nearest competitor. The group owns integrated online travel properties such as Goibibo.com (India’s largest hotels booking engine), and redBus.in (No 1 online bus ticketing platform).
“Our objective is to solve problems for the transportation and accommodation providers and to connect them to the travellers. The commitment from both Naspers and Tencent to ibibo is testimony to the strength of our platforms and the opportunities ahead,” said Ibibo Group Founder & CEO, Ashish Kashyap.
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