Indian online travel startup raises funding to provide expertly curated holiday packages

Bangalore-based TripFactory raised series A funding from Aarin Capital Partners today. The funding amount is undisclosed.

TripFactory is an online store that provides curated travel packages. Based on the theme of a holiday, a customer can find and book tour packages across the world. The packages offered on TripFactory are curated by its partner travel operators and tour experts.

The Indian leisure travel market is valued at US$80 billion annually and is projected to be worth US$150 billion by 2024, says the TripFactory team. With the funding, TripFactory aims to acquire a large chunk of this growth by building their tech team and mobile expertise.

India’s travel boom

“India is a large growing market for both domestic and outbound travel and most consumers like personalizing their own holidays or seek assistance by talking to experts who can plan for them and we are making that whole experience seamless using technology,” said CEO Amit Aggarwal earlier today in a statement.

The startup was co-founded in 2014 by Vinay Gupta and Aggarwal. The team says it was bootstrapped until receiving this series A round. TripFactory users have spent US$2 million buying close to 4,000 tours since its launch.

70 percent of TripFactory’s customers are from India. Within the next year, it plans to set up an office in the Philippines.

MakeMyTrip and Yatra dominate the online travel industry in India and are close competitors of TripFactory. Market leader MakemyTrip was launched in 2000 has an yearly turnover of over US$255 million. Yatra was founded in 2006 and has 30 percent market share in the Indian online leisure travel industry.

Bangalore-based Thrillophilia is another site where people can book tours and activities online. It was co-founded in 2009 by Abhishek Daga and Chitra Gurnani. Thrillophilia launched its app earlier this month for online bookings and product discovery. The startup has raised close to US$230,000 in seed funding from angel investors. The startup aims to give an offbeat travel experience to its customers and tap into the travel activity market valued US$2 billion.