HolidayIQ eyes large funding round in 2015
The travel information portal raised $12 mn from existing investors -- Accel Partners and Tiger Global in 2014, say sources
 "HolidayIQ eyes large funding round in 2015")
The funds will mainly be used for further strengthening its capabilities around content, mobile and product.
According to sectoral sources, it raised $12 million (Rs 75 crore) in the fifth round of funding duringthe first half of 2014 from existing investors Accel Partners and Tiger Global.
“Considering the pace at which we are growing, we will definitely go out and raise funds in 2015. We have raised funds fairly regularly, and have had two large funding rounds. I would imagine the next round would also be a large one,” said Hari Nair, founder and chief executive officer.
The company has not decided if the fresh investments would come from existing investors or new ones. While HolidayIQ is open to raising funds from ‘strategic investors’ in the same or related business domains, Nair said so far talks around this had not “made much sense”.
Nair first felt the need for a travel information portal as a boy, when he saw a calendar photo of a waterfall and wanted to visit it.
“There was this beautiful photograph that could make anybody wanting to visit the place but there was no information about it. The photograph was good enough to lure anyone but there were no details at all,” he recalls.
Consultant-turned-entrepreneur, Nair, set out to solve this problem when he set up HolidayIQ in 2004. The website today gets around seven million visitors each month and is among the top five internet-based travel companies, along with MakyMyTrip, Yatra and Cleartrip, among others.
With data proving that travelers visit at least seven websites before finalising a trip, Nair believes that there is huge opportunity for companies like his in the future.
"This is a sector where there is a lot happening in terms of consumer evolution and market growth. Though we don't believe that reaching out to the market is mostly about fund raising, but in our case, there is a certain funds component. So even while we are generating cash, we believe that once you cross a certain scale you need more investment," he said.
With the penetration of smartphones in India rising exponentially, HolidayIQ recently launched its mobile application, and a significant portion of the future funding will be invested towards strengthening its presence in the mobile space, Nair said. The company already gets about 55% of its traffic from mobile devices.