Indian Angel Network invests in RepUp

Sanjay Mehta of IAN to join company board

Indian Angel Network (IAN) has invested an undisclosed amount in Gurgaon-based online reputation management start-up - RepUp.

Sanjay Mehta, Keshav Murugesh and Apurva Parekh have led this round of investment. As a result, Mehta will join the company's board to help the team with strategic decisions.

Founded by former IIIT(M) graduate Pranjal Prashar in December 2014, RepUp helps hoteliers increase bookings by improving the online reputation of the website/brand.

Pranjal was an employee of Aujas Networks where he initiated delivery in Middle East and Africa before becoming an entrepreneur.

The hospitality industry is going through rapid changes, especially in terms of customer expectation and behaviour. About 3.5 million Indian Internet users (35 lakh) booked a hotel online in 2014, which is expected to increase to 8.4 million (84 lakhs) by the time 2016 ends.

RepUp aims to solve the online reputation management challenges using technology that can be scaled globally.

Pranjal Prashar, Co- Founder & CEO of RepUp, said the catch is that the growth of online hotel booking is accompanied by a momentous growth in reviews and customer feedback across more than 100 online platforms. The new breed of travelers make their decisions based on the reviews and feedback they read. This is where RepUp comes in. It uses an algorithm, for which a patent is pending, to improve the reputation which leads to increase in bookings. RepUp's, 'Review' and 'Price' widgets, have helped hoteliers increase their revenue anywhere between 22% to 26%.

The current funding will be used for acquiring customers from hotel industry in India and to explore south East Asian market. The key focus areas for RepUp in the coming year includes onboarding of 500 hotels, building partnership with OTAs and review portals and exploring other geographies, he said.