The startup claims to have achieved 5X growth since its Series A funding in January, 2019
Bengaluru, India-headquartered startup Itilite Technologies, which provides Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based travel solutions to corporates, announced in a statement released on April 18 that it has raised US$13 million in a Series B funding round led by Greenoaks Capital and Vy Capital. Existing investor Matrix Partners India and Helion Ventures Co-founder Ashish Gupta also participated in the round.
The startup plans to utilize the fresh funds for international expansion and product innovation, according to the statement.
According to a report by Inc42, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) filings reveal that Itilite has raised approximately $5.4 million from Greenoaks capital and $4.8 million from Vy Capital. Additionally, Matrix Partners and Co-founder Gupta invested approximately $2.5 million and $50,000 respectively.
The latest financing brings Itilite’s total funding to $17.3 million, according to Crunchbase. The startup raised $4.2 million in a Series A funding round in January 2019 from Matrix Partners India. According to the statement, the company has achieved 5x growth since then.
Founded in early 2017, the startup helps companies manage their end-to-end business travel process including booking of flights, hotels, and buses, through their AI-powered platform. Itilite claims to offer a 90-second booking experience to travelers, while helping companies save up to 30% in travel budget through superior controls and employee incentives.
The startup has more than 150,000 users across 200 mid- and large-enterprise customers in India, the U.S., and Southeast Asia. Enterprise customers include Jockey, RPG Group, Toshiba JSW, Ola, Swiggy, and Capillary Technologies among others.
“This capital will be instrumental in further strengthening our international presence and driving product innovation to deliver higher value to our customers,” said Itilite Co-Founder and CEO Mayank Kukreja.
“Travel fuels growth of any business, and despite being one of their largest expenditures, it is also the most under-optimized function. However, in the last few years, the business outlook on travel has changed significantly,” said Co-founder and Chief Business Officer of Itilite Anish Khadiya. “More and more CFOs are reaching out to us (even during this pandemic) to understand how they can infuse technology into their travel processes to optimise it for efficiency, cost reduction while creating better employee experience.“
Amid the global travel restrictions and lockdowns induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the travel and tourism industry is one of the worst affected sectors with companies resorting to layoffs and salary cuts. Although Itilite is experiencing a temporary decline in revenue, it is still receiving interest from businesses across markets.
“The timing of the funding is also an indicator that the investor community has strong confidence in this digital transformation business travel is going through,” the company noted in the statement.
Since the pandemic started, Itilite has introduced several new features to ensure a higher degree of employee safety once travel restrictions are lifted, including a list of ‘COVID Safe’ hotels that follow the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines.
Header Image Courtesy of Itilite.
