ibiboGroup boards redBus.in

NEW DELHI, INDIA: ibiboGroup (MIH India), has executed a binding agreement to acquire India's online Bus ticketing business, redBus.in (Pilani Soft Labs Pvt. Ltd) for an undisclosed amount.

This transaction will expand and diversify ibiboGroup's existing travel assets : Goibibo.com (one of the leading B2C Online travel aggregators) and TravelBoutiqueOnline (a B2B Online travel platform that enables thousands of small and medium agents), as per what a statement shared. 

All the travel entities of ibiboGroup (MIH India), including redBus.in, will continue to run independently and operate as separate businesses to drive deep focus. The founders and management teams of each of these entities will continue to build out their businesses.

"redBus.in, founded by Phanindra Sama in 2006 is India's number one online bus ticketing platform by all metrics : sales, transaction volumes and available inventory. It aggregates 228,000 seats per day, sells more than a million tickets a month and has over 600 full time employees. The core business model of redBus is commission revenues on successful transactions."

Phanindra Sama, Co-Founder & CEO of redBus.in added, "We are excited to be a part of ibiboGroup. Naspers' strong belief in internet industry and operating experience in multiple countries will help redBus grow into a renowned brand in the coming years."

The combined volumes of redBus.in and ibiboGroup's existing travel assets apparently makes the group, one of the biggest online travel players in India.

According to Ashish Kashyap, CEO of ibiboGroup : "Our key motivations to acquire redBus are : Strong management and founding team that will continue to run redBus as an independent operation. Second, significant leadership and market share of redBus in the online bus ticketing space. Third, this marriage leap frogs us to become an even stronger online travel player in India. This gives us significant combined scale in terms of daily transaction volumes and GMV. Lastly, we see this as an exciting market opportunity. Online penetration of the bus market is only 5.7 per cent compared to 28 per cent for air travel, suggesting headroom for rapid future growth"