Trip38, a Bangalore-based startup that is trying to make traveling less complicated just announced that it has raised INR 60 million (just under USD$1 million) from Interglobe Technology Quotient and Singapore-based VC firm Lantern Capital.
As part of the deal, ITG president and CEO Anil Parashar will join Trip38’s Board of Directors. The move makes sense as Interglobe is the parent company of India’s IndiGo Airlines, and has extensive experience in the aviation and hospitality industry.
“We take a lot of pride in being able to predict and recommend to the user what to do next when they travel. While we have just scratched the surface on this, we truly believe that the holy grail is in letting the app help the traveler at all times by being one step ahead rather than the traveler looking for information constantly,” says Niranjan Gupta, Trip38’s CEO. “The funds will be used towards enhancing Trip38’s product features and expanding its consumer base through effective marketing.”
This investment comes hot-on-the-heels off Stayzilla’s recent funding news and gives an indication of just how booming India’s travel-related startup space is at the moment.
See: iTraveller raises $1M to help you build your own holiday packages
Since going out of beta, the app has completely revamped its user interface to follow the “material design” aesthetic and has added local discovery features that provide users with recommendations for food and entertainment at their destination, ala Foursquare. It also provides details regarding baggage allowance and airport facilities. The app even works offline, which means that once a trip has been added in, users do not need an internet connection for it to work. It’s a practical upgrade, given that not many people have access to data when traveling and wifi hotspots are sketchy to say the least.
“Trip38 has been working on some really cool new features like digital boarding passes [and] smart location-aware services using iBeacon […] We plan to launch these product features shortly,” Sesh Krishnan, one of Trip38’s co-founders, said in a statement. The app has grown to 25,000 users, with around 40 percent of them situated in India.
Editing by Jeff Quigley and Malavika Velayanikal
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