Micromax Informatics has invested in ixigo, a provider of mobile travel apps.
India’s second largest smartphone maker did not reveal the size of the investment in ixigo. The plan of Micromax is to invest $0.5-20 million in over 20 startups in the coming year.
ixigo travel apps assists Indian travelers to plan their trips, find train and bus services, book cheap flights, cabs, hotels and more.
This investment is part of Micromax’s foray into application services. ixigo can access more than 30 million incremental users over the next year.
It plans to use this investment for expanding its product and technology team and to add 25,000 small and mid-sized travel service providers to its marketplace offering. ixigo aims to become the most comprehensive platform for comparing and buying travel services on mobile.
Rahul Sharma, co-founder, Micromax Informatics said: “We will be announcing more partnerships over the next few months to accelerate our journey into services.”
80 percent of ixigo’s travel and transportation queries and 50 percent of transactions originate on mobile devices. ixigo aims to quadruple its mobile user-base in the next 12 months.
Micromax last month said that it will be making investments of $0.5-20 million in over 20 startups in the coming year. M&A team of Micromax has been working with startups across major technology markets such as Silicon Valley, Europe, Israel and India to bring in the best products and capabilities.
ixigo aims to provide travel services to the next 300 million smartphone users, and has entered the budget hotels, packages and cabs segments.
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