The Journey of MakeMyTrip: From Startup to Travel Industry Leader
Introduction:
MakeMyTrip Limited is an Indian online travel company founded in 2000. Its Headquarters are located in Gurugam, Haryana. The company provides travel services like airline tickets, domestic and international holiday packages, hotel reservations, and rail and bus tickets. As of June 2023, the company has 146 active franchisees operating in over 100 cities and international offices in New York, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Phuket, Bangkok, Dubai, and Istanbul.
In September 2019, Trip.com the largest online travel agency in China and one of the largest travel service providers across the world, completed a share exchange with Naspers and became the single largest shareholder of MakMyTrip. In 2016, MakeMyTrip acquired the Ibibo group, which owned sites like Goibibo and Redbus.in.
Journey of MakeMyTrip:
MakeMyTrip was founded by Deep Kalra, who was an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad in 2000, MakeMyTrip was launched in the U.S. market to cater to overseas Indian communities for their U.S. to Indian travel needs. It started its Indian operations in September 2005 by offering online flight tickets to Indian travelers and also started focusing on non-air businesses like holiday packages and hotel bookings. MakeMyTrip Limited was listed on NASDAQ on 17 September 2010 after its initial public offerings.
MakeMyTrip also acquired Luxury Tours and Travel Private Limited, ITC group Hotel Travel Group, and ETB Group to enter new markets in Southeast Asia and Europe. In September 2014, MakeMyTrip instituted a $15 million innovation fund to support travel startups. In April 2015, MakeMyTrip acquired MyGola, a travel planning website. The acquisition was done through the innovation fund and all employees of MyGola were absorbed by the MakeMyTrip team.
In July 2015, MakeMyTrip invested in travel information and hotel review portal HolidayIQ and picked up approximately 30% stake in the company. In the same month, it invested $5 million in a startup called Bona Vita. In January 2016, the travel booking company Ctrip agreed to invest $180 million in MakeMyTrip. In March 2018, the company had 14 company-owned travel stores across 14 cities. The company acquired Mumbai-based corporate travel management company Quest2Travel for an undisclosed amount in 2019.
The company launched myPartner in 2020, a platform for travel agents. In May 2021, the company entered into a strategic partnership with the digital payment arm of Amazon Pay to provide travel services on Amazon. By March 31, 2022, the company will have over 125 franchisees-owned travel stores throughout India. They also leased offices in Southeast Asia, Dubai, the USA, and Latin America. In April 2022, TripMoney the fintech arm of MakeMyTrip, announced the acquisition of BookMyForex an online foreign exchange service provider, BookMyForex.
<p>The post The Journey of MakeMyTrip: From Startup to Travel Industry Leader first appeared on Hello Entrepreneurs.</p>
