Le Travenues Technology, the parent firm of online travel app Ixigo, has closed a deal to buy bus ticketing and aggregation platform AbhiBus. It is a Hyderabad-based online platform that helps its customers in the bus traveling.
Ixigo Parent Acquires AbhiBus
In a mix of cash and Ixigo stock, Le Travenues Tech has purchased Hyderabad-based online bus travel portal AbhiBus. In last twelve months, the bus travel business has recorded a sharp decline due to covid emergency.
As per the current deal’s agreement, all intellectual property, brands, technology, and operations will be taken over by Ixigo. AbhiBus team including Founder Sudhakar Reddy Chirra will join the Ixigo team and help the firm grow the bus traveling business. Chirra is now a board member of the Ixigo management team.
Talking about the latest acquisition deal, Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar, Co-Founders of Ixigo said, “AbhiBus is an innovative and high growth company with deep penetration on the supply side across state road transport companies (SRTCs) and private bus operators and on-demand side as a dominant bus ticketing brand in several states.”
Chirra is also excited to be a part of the innovative Artificial Intelligence(AI) based Ixigo platform. He released a joint statement from his employee side, and said, “they are “excited” to join Ixigo and “remain committed towards the underserved market segment for whom trains and buses are the primary modes of transportation”.
Intercity Bus Market and AbhiBus Status
In the fiscal year 2020, India’s Intercity bus ecosystem was valued at around Rs 585 billion. In India, buses are the most preferred mode of travel in both urban and rural areas both. As per the transport industry report, 65% of all Indian transportation takes place via buses.
Since 2020, bus services got affected maximum due to nationwide lockdown and strict restrictions on public transports. After the second covid wave in India, the bus industry is slowly coming on track. Industry experts believe that it will take the next six months in full recovery of bus transportation service.
IPO bound Ixigo has acquired a second startup within five months after buying train ticketing platform Confirmtkt in February 2021.
AbhiBus is one of the most popular bus ticketing platforms in India. The FY2020 report was the second-largest bus aggregator in India in FY20, selling 26,000 bus tickets per day through its online portal. The current deal will help Ixigo to establish its operation in small cities and towns of India. Currently, Ixigo has a high user base of around 255 million, as of May 31, 2021.
