India: Flipkart to buy travel and hotel booking platform Cleartrip
REUTERS/Abhishek N. Chinnappa
April 14, 2021
Flipkart Group is close to buying travel and hotel booking platform Cleartrip in a distress sale, three people aware of the matter said, as the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant strengthens its operations in the hospitality segment.
The cash-and-stock deal valuing Cleartrip at almost $40 million may close in the next 10 days, said two of the three people cited above, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity. The deal comes at a time the hospitality industry continues to reel from the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The travel and hospitality industry has been severely affected by the impact of covid-19, with travel booking platforms unable to get back on their feet,” one of the three people cited above said. “The Cleartrip acquisition allows Flipkart to now have a direct play in the travel and hospitality segment, which it offered earlier through partners
Flipkart likely to acquire Cleartrip in a $40 million deal
The acquisition of Cleartrip by Flipkart will expand its scope of services into the travel and hospitality segment, bringing it into the ecommerce fold.
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Cleartrip, the Mumbai-based online travel aggregator, in a deal valued at around
$40 million, according to sources familiar with the development.
The transaction, which is expected to close soon, is most likely to be a cash-cum-equity deal. The acquisition brings travel and hospitality services to Flipkart s portfolio, gives the ecommerce giant a wider play in the online consumer.
Further,
Flipkart also gets the leverage to cross-sell its services through the travel and hospitality segment. It had introduced travel bookings in 2018 through a partnership with MakeMyTripbut later switched to ixigo the next year.