ETW Staff– Mumbai
MakeMyTrip (MMYT) has announced the institution of a US$15 million innovation fund to support early stage companies in the travel space. The fund will focus on start-ups in travel technology with a special focus on mobile and IP based companies.
Speaking on this initiative, Deep Kalra, founder and group CEO, MakeMyTrip.com, said, “We’ve agreed to create a fund of US$15 million, which is 10 per cent 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 mergers and acquisitions opportunities in the travel technology space. We intend to purposefully go out and look for such companies and take early stage positions.”
The Board of MMYT has approved the formation of an investment committee to deploy the funds as per its discretion in various startups and mid-size companies in travel and tourism sector, or technology/ mobile companies powering this sector. The committee comprises of six directors including the founder Deep Kalra and co-founders Rajesh Magow and Keyur Joshi.
