South Korean VC, Nilekani’s Fundamentum lead growth round in TravelTriangle

TravelTriangle, an online marketplace for holiday packages, has raised $13 million in a growth round led by KB Global Platform Fund, the venture capital investment arm of South Korea’s KB Financial Group and returning investor Fundamentum Partnership.

KB Global Platform Fund invested $4.5 million while Fundamentum, a growth capital investment firm floated by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani and Helion Venture Partners co-founder Sanjeev Aggarwal, contributed $4.1 million in the round, according to the company’s latest regulatory filings.

Existing investors SAIF Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and a group of angel investors participated in this round.

The company is expected to invest the capital in adding more international destinations, brand building and technology enhancement, a person privy to the transaction old TechCircle.

TravelTriangle’s last funding round was about a year ago when it raised $3 million in venture debt from InnoVen Capital.

Earlier in 2018, the company raised $12 million in a Series C round led by Fundamentum.

Previously, it raised $10 million in its Series B round led by Singapore-based RB Investments in February 2017.

In July 2014, it had secured a $1.7 million seed round from SAIF Partners. In April 2015, it got Series A financing worth $8 million from Bessemer Venture Partners. It raised $1.25 million from InnoVen Capital in the same year.

Founded in 2010 by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumni Sankalp Agarwal, Sanchit Garg, and Prabhat Gupta, TravelTriangle lets customers connect with local travel agents through its platform. Operated by Holiday Triangle Travel, it offers a SaaS-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform for travel agents to manage and analyse customer interactions and draw insights to improve customer retention and drive sales growth. SaaS stands for software as a service.

Most players in the larger travel and tourism market consisting of online travel agents, travel community platforms, holiday package providers and marketplaces are getting into the customized travel package space. Companies are tapping into the emerging trend of users looking for experiences rather than just travel. From legacy players like MakeMyTrip and Via.com to new startups, players are increasingly focusing on offering highly customized travel packages that can bundle not just bookings but other affiliated services together.

Key developments in the online travel sector

Last month, social discovery platform Woovly raised $2.5 million in a second seed funding round led by Duane Park, a venture launched by India Equity Partners co-founder Anurag Bhargava. The startup helps people search and explore bucket list ideas and activities. It aggregates potential sales deals in the form of wish lists and connects users to local experience providers.

Earlier this year China’s online travel portal Ctrip became the largest shareholder in homegrown MakeMyTrip when it acquired Naspers’ shares in the company. MakeMyTrip’s close competitor Yatra was acquired by US headquartered Ebix Inc in July.

Hospitality chain OYO Hotels and Homes recently launched a hotel booking portal, SuperAgent, for offline travel agents. The Gurugram-based company claims to have partnered with almost 12,000 travel agents. OYO’s new website helps travel agents find recommended hotels, deals, prices and a sales summary.