Ixigo invests in gogoBus mobility startup, enters bus-booking segment

Travel tech start-up Ixigo on Tuesday said it has invested an undisclosed sum of money in inter-city mobility company gogoBus. The deal will be followed by a $500,000 round in gogoBus from other investors, Ixigo founder Aloke Bajpai said.
 

Rajesh Sawhney, co-founder and chief executive, Innerchef and Abhishek Sharma, chief operating officer of Dineout have also participated in the current round.

With this investment, Ixigo has entered the bus booking segment. Earlier, it had flight, trains, and hotels bookings. For gogoBus, this provides access to a ready user base.

Launched in January, gogoBus is new-age bus operator that offers travel on select inter-city routes. It differentiates itself by offering superior experience through pick-up and drop off from self-operated lounges, bus tracking, among other things.

The venture was founded by Amit Gupta, who was part of the core team at Shuttl, and Avinash Bagri, who earlier co-founded Trip Scanners, a travel site.

“Despite buses being the most popular means of inter-city transport in the country, the market is highly fragmented and non-standardized, with many pain-points worth solving in this segment. Generally, travellers end up planning a last-minute inter-city bus trip due to the lack of availability on trains and high flight fares. gogoBus allows people to do so in a smart and affordable manner” said Bajpai.

It is estimated that over 5 billion inter-city bus travel tickets are sold every year. RedBus is currently the biggest company in the segment.