ixigo acquires bus ticketing platform AbhiBus

Le Travenues Technology Limited, that operates travel platform “ixigo”, has purchased the bus ticketing and aggregation platform AbhiBus as a going concern on a slump sale basis. The business transfer agreement includes a mix of cash and ixigo stock as consideration, while all AbhiBus intellectual property, brands, technology and operations are being transferred to ixigo.

The long-haul intercity bus market in India was valued at Rs 585 billion in FY2020. Buses are the most preferred mode of travel for the teeming masses in both urban and rural India, accounting for the largest share of 65% of all transportation used in the country. Resumption of bus services and relaxation of COVID lockdowns have led to swift recovery of bus ticketing volumes and the industry is expected to fully recover in the next 6 months.

As per industry reports, AbhiBus was the second largest bus aggregator in India in FY20, selling 26,000 bus tickets per day through its platform. This deal will help the ixigo group to consolidate its presence in tier 2/3/4 markets by offering a multi-modal transportation experience across trains, flights and buses to its combined user base of nearly 255 million users, as of May 31, 2021.

Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar, co-founders, ixigo said, “ixigo and AbhiBus founders share the passion and focus on the next billion traveler market. AbhiBus has built an innovative and high growth company with deep penetration on the supply side across state road transport companies (SRTCs) & private bus operators and on the demand side, as the dominant bus ticketing brand in several Indian states. By leveraging our combined user base, multi-modal transportation capabilities, tech resources and travel domain expertise we will be able to enhance the experience of millions of travellers in India every day.”

Sudhakar Reddy Chirra, Founder & CEO, AbhiBus said, “We started AbhiBus with a vision to become India’s most preferred bus booking platform. We are happy that we were able to build a motivated, tightly-knit team and we grew rapidly to become one of the leading bus ticketing players in the country. We are excited to be joining ixigo, whose team and products have created new benchmarks for the travel industry. We remain committed as a team towards our joint vision of serving the underserved market segment of the next billion travelers in the country, for whom trains and buses are the primary modes of transportation.”

AbhiBus provides end-to-end software and other value-added solutions such as e-ticketing systems, fleet management solutions, vehicle tracking systems, passenger information systems, logistics management. The company also provides technology solutions to private bus partners and state transport corporations in India. It has also partnered with IRCTC to offer bus tickets to IRCTC users.

This is ixigo’s second acquisition of the year. In February, it had acquired the train booking app Confirmtkt.