Makemytrip announces $15 million innovation fund for travel startups

After Snapdeal’s move to start its own mobile-focused technology incubator and seed fund, Makemytrip has now announced an institution of a $15 million innovation fund to support early stage companies in travel space.

Even Flipkart-acquired-Myntra is planning to launch its own fashion incubator to support early stage startups in this upcoming sector.

Makemytrip’s fund will focus on start-ups in travel tech space with a special attention to those working with a mobile first approach, even travel startups that are into developing IP would get a special consideration.

Talking about this new endeavor, Deep Kalra, Founder & Group CEO, Makemytrip shared,

We’ve agreed to create a fund of $15 million, which is 10% of cash on our balance sheet, to be focused on young and new ventures in the travel technology space for our market. This is an additional prong of our inorganic growth strategy by pursuing M&A opportunities in the Travel Technology space. We intend to purposefully go out and look for such companies and take early stage positions.

An Investment Committee comprising of six directors of MakeMyTrip including Deep Kalra, Rajesh Magow and Keyur Joshi will independently manage the funds and look after the investments.

Related read: 3 everlasting tips for startup success from Deep Kalra

Every major Internet company in India is making an attempt to gain complete dominance in their respective sectors by luring early stage startups towards them. With dearth of incubators and accelerators in India, these initiatives are helpful for early stage startups to seek mentoring with funds to build their ventures.