Micromax invests in travel site ixigo.com

Micromax, India's leading domestic handset-maker, on Monday said it was investing an undisclosed amount in travel search marketplace ixigo.com.

The investment will give ixigo a reach of over 30 million incremental users over the next year, said a release jointly issued by the two firms.

Commenting on the investment, Rahul Sharma, co-founder, Micromax Informatics said: "Our vision is to seamlessly integrate innovative services into smart devices to create an ecosystem that is valuable for our users."

Earlier, Micromax had said it will be making investments of $0.5-20 million in over 20 startups in the coming year.

Aloke Bajpai, CEO & co-founder, ixigo said: "We share a common vision of a connected ecosystem of travellers who can access & consume travel content ubiquitously on their phone and compare & book across a bouquet of travel service providers seamlessly."

"Nearly 80 percent of our travel and transportation queries and 50 percent of our transactions currently originate on mobile devices. This partnership with Micromax will strengthen our market leadership in mobile travel services for middle class users. We expect to quadruple our mobile user-base in the next 12 months," he added.