ixigo acquires budget travel community Indian Backpacker

Mobile travel search marketplace ixigo on Friday said that it has completed the acquisition of all intellectual property of Desi Backpacking Travelers, which runs IndianBackpacker.com - a community for budget travellers. Financial details were not disclosed.

As a part of the deal, Akshay Chhugani, founder and CEO of The Indian Backpacker will also be joining ixigo as head of traveller communities.

Aloke Bajpai, co-founder and CEO, ixigo said: "As a part of ixigo's vision of simplifying the lives of Indian travellers, we want to build a strong connect with communities of travellers who possess a shared passion, purpose or taste."

"Akshay has travelled extensively through India on a shoestring budget and has mastered the art of spending less and travelling more in terms of budget accommodation, destinations and experiences," he said.

"At ixigo, he will be responsible to build and nurture curated communities of travellers across interest areas. We look forward to building an authentic Indian traveller community and curate deep knowledge of offbeat destinations and niche travel experiences," he added.

ixigo recently received investment from Micromax, India's leading smartphone manufacturer, and is looking to grow five-fold to reach over 30 million monthly active mobile users by the end of 2016.