IXiGO receives first round of finance from BAF

New Delhi, Feb 21: iXiGO.com, India's most awarded travel search engine, announces it has received an undisclosed sum of first-round financing from BAF Spectrum Pvt Ltd, a leading Singapore-based investment firm.

The investment will fund iXiGO's aggressive marketing plans and its innovative strategy to scale-up searchable travel content. William Klippgen, Executive Director at BAF Spectrum, considered one of the most successful internet pioneers in Europe, is joining iXiGO's board of directors. iXiGO's rapid growth is a direct result of its disruptive model that allows travelers to search and book directly on airline sites, saving them time and money while reducing distribution costs for airlines.

A comprehensive study conducted by the firm discovered that more than 80 per cent of the time, big online travel portals sell tickets at a higher price than the airline's own website.

The study also confirmed iXiGO's ability to discover more route combinations between smaller towns like Guwahati, Ranchi.

"Online travel purchases are driving the expansion of e-commerce in India. With an increasing number of online travel vendors, a comprehensive and transparent search engine is becoming a strong need for value-conscious Indian travelers. We were impressed by iXiGO's unique technology, strong organic growth and its passionate team's seasoned understanding of the space. We strongly believe that iXiGO's approach to online travel will become the dominant model very soon", said Klippgen.

Klippgen co-founded Zoomit.com which merged with Kelkoo to form Europe's leading price-comparison mega-portal. Kelkoo was acquired by Yahoo! in 2004 for more than US 550 million dollars.

"Travel search is the future. BAF Spectrum shares our philosophy and brings a wealth of skills, resources, and experience to iXiGO. We are betting big on hotels to power the next phase of our growth and this relationship will assist us in our rapid brand-building efforts across India", said Aloke Bajpai, Founder and CEO of iXiGO.

Launched in June 2007, iXiGO has been named as one of the most innovative startups in the world by Red Herring magazine and NASSCOM.

ANI