India’s MakeMyTrip acquires last-minute travel booking app Mygola

Indian travel startup Mygola has tasted several flavors in its business model – just like its name which is derived from the Hindi word gola, meaning ice candy made of different flavors. Of course, Mygola’s ice (core) has always been customized travel plans.

The company started with providing a question-and-answer format for travelers to research trips and charges. Later, it pivoted to make travel itineraries based on expert blogs. And finally, it ventured into an app for last-minute and in-destination to-dos’ based on user likings.

All these pivots were mainly aimed at increasing conversion rates. In its earlier model, users often used Mygola for research, but not many booked trips through it. Competition from players like TripAdvisor also hampered growth.

What the last-minute travel planning space brought to the table was the ease to monetize on the sense of urgency of users, says Anshuman Bapna, co-founder of Mygola. It has worked well. The startup gets 500,000 registered users every month from 20,000 destinations across the world.

This attracted India’s travel booking leader MakeMyTrip to today acquire undisclosed assets as well as the team of Mygola, which had previously raised US$1.5 million in series A funding led by Helion Venture Partners. Before that it had secured US$1 million from 500 Startups founder Dave McClure, Blumberg Capital, and a few angel investors.

“The Mygola team’s deep understanding of travelers’ planning and in-destination experience preferences will be valuable in strengthening our proposition,” says Rajesh Magow, co-founder and CEO, MakeMyTrip India.

Mygola has built an Android and iOS app that suggests places to visit in the traveler’s vicinity. The apps’ algorithms take care of nitty-gritties like open/close hours, transport options, and personal interests to come up with the right plan. These details are updated live from crowdsourced guides.

Besides making plans, it also allows travelers to book tickets, get restaurant reservations, and hire cabs. It makes money from these partners. It charges US$1 per diner in restaurant booking and between 5 and 10 percent from tourist attraction places, cabs etc. It also charges 5 per cent from end users as convenience fee.

Meanwhile, MakeMyTrip has been in a very thin margins, high volume business wherein consumer loyalty has largely depended on price competitiveness. In the previous quarter, its overall blended margins from hotel and air ticket booking shrunk from 8.8 per cent to 8.1 per cent.

This acquisition is done through MakeMyTrip’s Innovation Fund which was formed last year to invest in startups in the travel technology space. This US$15 million fund had earlier invested in Simplotel Technologies which develops booking engine enabled websites for hoteliers.