Micromax invests in mobile travel search provider ixigo

Smartphone handset maker Micromax Informatics on Monday announced a "strategic investment" in ixigo, a mobile travel search and marketplace, as part of its ongoing investments of up to USD 20 million in over 20 startups in the coming year. This investment would further reinforce Micromax's foray into application services and innovative product offerings, the company said in a statement without disclosing the financial details. Commenting on the development, Micromax Informatics Co-founder Rahul Sharma said: "Our vision is to seamlessly integrate innovative services into smart devices to create an ecosystem that is valuable for our users. We are really impressed with ixigo's talented team and its mobile technology." He further said: "We will be announcing more such partnerships over the next few months to accelerate our journey into services." It will also give ixigo a reach of over 30 million incremental users over the next year, Micromax said. Ixigo CEO & Co-Founder Aloke Bajpai said the partnership with Micromax would strengthen its market leadership in mobile travel services for middle class users. "We expect to quadruple our mobile user-base in the next 12 months," he said, adding 80 percent of the company's travel and transportation queries and 50 percent of transactions currently originated on mobile devices. Ixigo helps travellers plan their trips, find the best train and bus services, book cheapest flights, cabs, hotels among others. Last month, Micromax had announced that it would make investments ranging from USD 0.5 million to USD 20 million in over 20 startups in the coming year. It has set up an M&A team to actively source and work with startups across major technology markets such as Silicon Valley, Europe, Israel and India.