General Atlantic backs India travel platform, Affirma exits
General Atlantic has acquired a minority stake in TBO.com, an India-based business-to-agent travel portal that serves a global customer base, for an undisclosed sum. The deal facilitates a partial exit for Affirma Capital.
Affirma first backed TBO in 2018 and has seen the company emerge as a leading industry player. “TBO is on the cusp of consolidating the travel technology landscape, and we continue to believe in its potential to aggregate and digitize travel for travel partners across the globe,” said Udai Dhawan, head of India at Affirma, in a statement. He noted that the partial exit has generated a multi-fold return.
Founded in 2006 by Gaurav Bhatnagar and Ankush Nijhawan, TBO was present in more than 100 countries as of March and its gross transaction value for the year amounted to USD 2.73bn.
The company essentially serves as a B2B broker, connecting travel inventory suppliers such as hotels, airlines, car rental providers, and insurers with over 40,000 regular travel buyers, including agents, advisors, tour operators, online travel portals, and super apps. It claims to be connected to more than 700 airlines and 1m hotels globally.
The goal is to create a seamless interface between two highly fragmented markets, not only offering access but also facilitating transactions by providing post-booking services like re-confirmations and working in local currencies on either side to help reduce cross-border transaction costs.
“Gaurav, Ankush and the entire TBO team have pursued a clear mission to simplify travel sales in a growing and increasingly diverse traveller environment. They have been focused on building a unique technology platform that is able to deliver discovery, trust, payments and services to its suppliers and buyers,” said Shantanu Rastogi, a managing director and head of India at General Atlantic.
“We see immense potential in the path ahead for TBO, including global expansion opportunities, and are excited to partner with the company to help enable the next generation of travel globally.”
General Atlantic received legal advice from Bharucha & Partners. Goldman Sachs served as financial advisor to TBO and Affirma, while Kaizen Law provided legal counsel to TBO and Quillon Partners did the same for Affirma.
More on South Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.