Ixigo acquires traveller community, IndianBackpacker

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Ixigo has acquired of all intellectual property of Desi Backpacking Travelers Pvt Ltd, the company that runs IndianBackpacker.com - a community for budget travellers, for an undisclosed amount.

As a part of the deal, Akshay Chhugani, founder & CEO of The Indian Backpacker will also be joining ixigo as Head, Traveller Communities.

Akshay has traveled extensively through India on a shoestring budget and has mastered the art of spending less and traveling more in terms of budget accommodation, destinations and experiences. At ixigo, he will be responsible to build and nurture curated communities of travelers across interest areas.

"We look forward to building an authentic Indian traveler community and curate deep knowledge of offbeat destinations and niche travel experiences,” said Aloke Bajpai, Co-Founder & CEO, ixigo.

Akshay Chhugani has earlier worked as a travel expert for Travelocity.com and worked with companies like Exposure Media Marketing (which publishes Selling World Travel magazine), Eventus India and Aegis Global Vantedge.

ixigo recently received investment from Micromax, India’s key smartphone manufacturer, and is looking to grow five-fold to reach over 30 million monthly active mobile users by the end of 2016.