Yatra, India’s second largest online travel operator has raised $15.4 million (Rs. 100 crores) from InnoVen Capital. This is India’s largest debt transaction to date. Founded in the year 2006 by Sabina Chopra and Manish Amin, Yatra went public in 2016.
Innoven Capital, backed by Singapore’s Temasek, has invested for the second time in Yatra. In 2013, it had invested $4 million in the Nasdaq-listed online travel company.
Yatra will use the newly acquired funds to add more service offerings and overall growth of the company. It has already raised around $92 million through their Nasdaq listing in December 2016.
InnoVen Capital in making a lot of equity-based investments in India, which is one of its largest geographies in terms of financing. Until March 2017, it had extended funds of around $225 million in the country. It is aiming to inject funds of $80-100 million by the end of the current fiscal year in few of the country’s largest and well-capitalized startups like Oyo Rooms, Swiggy, Pepperfry, Shopclues, Byju’s, Freecharge, Myntra, Firstcry, Capillary and Practo. According to InnoVen Capital, the need for venture debt is exceeding considerably among larger companies too. With a lot if Indian companies planning to expand its reach overseas, venture debts are gaining a lot of popularity. It has provided 165 loans to around 120 startups till date. Currently based in India, China and South-East Asia, it offers multiple debt capital solutions like acquisition finance, growth loans, and syndication.
InnoVen generally lends to startups that have already raised around $3 million to $5 million in funding. It lends at an interest rate of 15% with a tenure of around 2-3 years. InnoVen does not accept the personal guarantees or assets of any of the founders.
A recent Google-BCG report suggested that Indian travel suggested that the Indian Travel Market will be worth a whopping $48 billion by the year 2020. It is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 11%.