Travel app ixigo files DRHP with SEBI to raise Rs 1,600 crore via IPO

Gurugram-based digital ticketing firm Le Travenues Technology's travel app ixigo has filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the stock market regulator SEBI to raise Rs 1,600 crore through its initial public offering (IPO).

The preliminary prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has stated that ixigo's IPO would include a Rs 750 crore fresh issue and an 850 crore offer for sale (OFS). Elevation Capital and Micromax will exit partially as a result of the development.

The proceeds of this IPO will be used for organic and inorganic growth initiatives and general corporate purposes.

“In addition, our Company expects to receive the benefits of listing of the Equity Shares on the Stock Exchanges, including among other things, enhancement of our Company’s brand name among existing and potential users and creation of a public market for the Equity Shares in India,” the DRHP said.

The investment bankers working on the IPO are ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, Kotak Mahindra Capital, and Nomura. Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Khaitan & Co are the legal counsel.

Ixigo, founded in 2007 by Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar, competes with listed peers such as EaseMyTrip, Yatra, and Booking.com. It assists customers in planning, booking, and tracking trips, as well as providing real-time prices and availability for flights, trains, buses, taxis, hotels, and destinations.

Over the last four months, ixigo's path to filing IPO papers with Sebi has been punctuated by a flurry of activity, including funding rounds, acquisitions, and new board members.

It also expanded its board of directors with six new independent members, including former IRCTC chairman and managing director Pratap Mall, Hopper founder Frederic Lalonde, and Hamstede Living MD & CEO Rahul Pandit.

“We are the largest Indian OTA in the online train bookings segment and our train-centric mobile applications, ixigo trains, and ConfirmTkt, were collectively the leading B2C distribution platforms for IRCTC with 42 percent market share, in terms of rail bookings among the OTAs and B2C distributors of IRCTC in Fiscal 2021,” the firm says in the DRHP.

It adds further, “Our bus-focused app, AbhiBus, was the second-largest bus-ticketing OTA in India, with a 10 percent market share in online bus ticket bookings, in Fiscal 2021. We are also the third-largest flight OTA in India with a market share of 12 percent in online air bookings in Fiscal 2021.”

Ixigo elaborated on its GTV (gross transaction value) and financials, saying, “On a combined (proforma) basis (i.e., taking into account the operations of Confirm Ticket and AbhiBus in the relevant period) in Fiscal 2021 our combined GTV was Rs 26,946.02 million. Our revenue from operations has grown at a CAGR of 83.26 percent between Fiscal 2019 and Fiscal 2021 and were Rs 403.68 million, Rs 1,115.98 million and Rs 1,355.66 million in fiscals 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively,”

According to the company, it has the highest app usage among OTAs, with 37.48 million users as of March 2021, based on MAUs.

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