RailYatri receives Series B funding from Omidyar Network

RailYatri, a travel start-up, has raised an undisclosed amount in Series B funding led by Omidyar Network. With the addition of bus and one-way cab bookings, this Noida-based start-up has rapidly increased its footprint in the long-distance travel space and quickly emerged as a top travel destination with over 12 million monthly users. This round led by Omidyar Network, saw participation from all other existing investors, including Nandan Nilekani, Blume Ventures and Helion Venture Partners.

Manish Rathi, Co-Founder & CEO RailYatri, said, “We are overwhelmed by the travellers response to our platform, and at current growth rates we expect to be India’s largest traveller destination this year. Our marketplace has exceeded expectations and is touching 100 crore run rate in bookings in its first full year. Our offline reach extends to over 100 cities with the tier-2 and -3 cities helping drive growth. We plan to reach 10 million annual transaction rate this year, and this round will help us in achieving our goal. Our low cost of acquisition allows growth with margins, and RailYatri is now expanding into budget hotels and packages, for which we are aggressively hiring in all verticals.”

RailYatri which has a strong base of loyal users has come a long way from being an information platform to a leading e-commerce entity which helps travellers make better, informed buying decisions. Siddharth Nautiyal, Investment Partner, Omidyar Network, added, “We continue to be very impressed by the growth, consumer feedback and large-scale impact of the RailYatri platform. They are constantly innovating to improve the travel experience for millions of travellers every day. We are confident that they will soon be the default starting point for any traveller in India and especially the next half billion Indians coming online over the next three to five years. RailYatri’s India-first solution underscores frugal innovation with its data and information-centric approach to travel commerce.”