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Norwest Venture Partners Teams With Reliance Capital & TV18 Group to Form India's First Online and Centralized Travel Services Company for the India Market

Posted on: Friday, 13 January 2006, 09:00 CST

-Norwest Venture Partners (NVP):

-- Yatra Online to Provide the Best Travel-Related Information and Pricing, Real-Time Availability and Reservations 24 Hours a Day or Night for Airlines, Hotels, Railway, Buses and Car Rentals

-- Family/Leisure and Business Travelers Across 5000 Cities in India to Benefit from Travel Services via Yatra's Call Center, Internet Site www.yatra.in and Mobile Handsets

Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), a leading technology venture capital firm, today announced that it has partnered with Reliance Capital, Television 18 Group (TV18), and seasoned travel industry executives to form Yatra Online (www.yatra.in), the first online and centralized travel services company for the India market. Reliance Capital is a member of Reliance -- Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, and TV18 Group is India's premier business and consumer news broadcaster that airs CNBC TV18, CNN-IBN, and is also a leading media content provider in India. Yatra has secured initial funding from these leading financial and strategic investors who are committed to support the company through its subsequent stages of growth to make Yatra the #1 travel services company in India.

India is currently witnessing a tremendous boom in both business and family/leisure travel. In 2006, the Indian travel market is estimated to reach approximately US $40 billion, and plans to hit close to US $50 billion by 2009. Although the travel market is flourishing, the needs of today's Indian travelers are still under-served due to the fact that the travel industry is extremely fragmented. It is tremendously difficult for Indian travelers to find, compare and select the best flight and hotel packages and deals, and make reservations at the lowest cost and finest service.

To meet this rapidly growing need, India's first online and centralized travel services company, Yatra Online (www.yatra.in), has been founded. Yatra will help businesses and consumers to book airline, railway and bus tickets and reserve hotel rooms and car rentals by calling Yatra's call center, or by going to the Internet website www.yatra.in or by using their mobile handsets. Yatra will provide travel-related information, pricing, availability and reservations for airlines, hotels, railway, buses and car rentals across 5000 large cities and small rural areas throughout India. Yatra's multi-language customer service center will enable business and family/leisure travelers to make well-informed and cost effective bookings 24 hours a day or night, 365 days a year, through its online, call center and mobile support. Yatra customers will benefit from first priority booking and customized travel packages and deals for multiple large to small hotels, airlines, railways, buses and car rentals at the lowest prices, as a result of strategic relationships with the leading travel suppliers. The company will also offer free travel-related news and travel advisory services to a wide range of people. The Yatra service will be operational in the first half of 2006.

"We are very excited about our investment in Yatra and the market opportunity the company has targeted. Internet penetration in India is only in its infancy and investing in companies with sound business models that leverage the Internet to reach today's consumers is a growing trend for our firm," said Promod Haque, managing partner of NVP and board advisor to Yatra.

The founders of Yatra are non-resident Indians (NRI) and seasoned travel industry executives who have returned to India to launch the first online and centralized travel services company of its kind. The founders, Dhruv Shringi and Manish Amin, bring a combination of 45 years of travel experience and 15 years of online travel experience to Yatra. Most recently, the founders worked together to help build and manage one of Europe's largest online travel businesses, Ebookers Plc, which was recently acquired by travel giant Cendant Corporation (market capitalization: US $17.98 billion) for US $410 million.

"We are thrilled to be funded by such strategic leaders such as Norwest Venture Partners, Reliance Capital, and TV18 Group who have backed our team's vision to make the travel experience more affordable and enjoyable in India," said Dhruv Shringi, co-founder and board member of Yatra. "With our nationwide reach to consumers across India, we will bring more bookings to hotels and airlines. Even the smallest hotel in the smallest town in India will benefit from more visibility than they have ever experienced before. Yatra is committed to selling and filling seats on flights and hotel rooms that are currently underutilized."

"For the first time, by simply a click of their phone or computer, people will be able to book tickets at all hours of the day or night without having to make multiple calls or drive across the city to find the best deals," said Vab Goel, partner at NVP and Yatra board member. "We are excited to bring together experienced founders with such a strong investor group as Reliance Capital and TV18 Group, and we look forward to working with Yatra to provide Indian consumers with ultimate control of their travel experience."

"We are delighted to partner with NVP to back Yatra's strong management team in fulfilling every Indian's dream of easy, affordable travel by improving the entire Indian travel experience," said a Reliance Capital spokesperson (a part of the Reliance -- Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group).

"TV18 Group is in the business of providing critical, real-time information to over 70 million people each day in India, in addition to a large Internet franchise that we serve through our leading financial and news portals. What we have done for delivering the latest news and information to Indian consumers is the same paradigm shift we believe Yatra will bring to today's business and vacation travelers," said Haresh Chawla, CEO, TV18 and Yatra board member. "Investing in Yatra is an extension of our vision for the Internet, as we extend transaction services to our audience."

About Reliance Capital Ltd.

Reliance Capital Ltd. is a part of the Reliance -- Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. Reliance Capital is one of India's leading private sector financial services companies, and ranks among the top 3 private sector financial services and banking companies, in terms of net worth. Reliance Capital has interests in asset management and mutual funds, stock broking, life and general insurance, proprietary investments, private equity and other activities in financial services.

About TV18 Group

Television Eighteen (TV18) is India's premier business and consumer news broadcaster (CNBC TV18, CNN-IBN and Awaaz) and a leading media content provider and Internet player (running moneycontrol.com, commoditiescontrol.com and ibnlive.com). Besides that, it has, over the last decade, provided prime time television content to almost all leading satellite channels in India including BBC, Star Plus, Sony Entertainment Television, Zee, MTV and Discovery. It is among the fastest growing media companies in India with a CAGR of almost 100% since its inception in 1993. Among TV18's promoters are Raghav Bahl, one of India's foremost television journalists and a brand in his own right, and Sanjay Ray Chaudhury -- television's creative phenomenon and creator of The India Show (more popularly known as The Amul India Show). CNBC TV18 is India's leading business news channel. The channel is a joint venture between CNBC Asia-Pacific and Television Eighteen India Ltd. TV18 owns studios in New Delhi and Mumbai and has a news gathering network of over 200 journalists across the country. Turner International (Turner) and Global Broadcast News (GBN), a TV18 Group Company, also recently announced a partnership to launch a co-branded, 24-hour, English-language general news channel/service in India called CNN-IBN. TV18 has also launched India's first consumer channel, Awaaz, which is growing at a rapid pace and reaches out to India's huge consuming class. South Asia World is TV18's international channel. It is the first English channel dedicated to South Asian viewers across the world. TV18 also owns and operates largest financial news and information portal -- www.moneycontrol.com.

About Yatra Online

Yatra Online (www.yatra.in) is the first online and centralized travel services company for the India market. Yatra will help businesses and consumers to book airline, railway and bus tickets and reserve hotel rooms and car rentals by calling Yatra's call center, or by going to the Internet website www.yatra.in or by using their mobile handsets. Yatra will provide travel-related information, pricing, availability and reservations for airlines, hotels, railway, buses and car rentals across 5000 large cities and small rural areas throughout India. Yatra's multi-language customer service center will enable business and family/leisure travelers to make well-informed and cost effective bookings 24 hours a day or night, 365 days a year, through its online, call center and mobile support. Yatra customers will benefit from first priority booking and customized travel packages and deals for multiple large to small hotels, airlines, railways, buses and car rentals at the lowest prices, as a result of strategic relationships with the leading travel suppliers. The company will also offer free travel-related news and travel advisory services to a wide range of people. Yatra's world-renowned investors include Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) -- Promod Haque's leading venture capital firm, Reliance Capital (a member of Reliance -- Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group), and Television 18 Group (TV18) -- India's premier news broadcaster (CNBC TV18, CNN-IBN and Awaaz) and a leading Internet player (running moneycontrol.com, commoditiescontrol.com and ibnlive.com) founded by Raghav Bahl. For more information visit www.yatra.in or send e-mail to info@yatra.in.

About Norwest Venture Partners

Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) has actively partnered with entrepreneurs to build great businesses for more than 45 years. NVP focuses on investments in information technology including: semiconductor and components, systems, software, services and consumer/Internet technologies. The firm currently manages more than $1.8 billion in venture capital out of its office in Palo Alto, California, USA. Managing Partner Promod Haque has been ranked as a top 10 dealmaker on the annual Forbes Midas List for the past three years. In 2004, Forbes named him as the #1 venture capitalist based on performance over the last decade.

NVP has funded over 350 companies since inception. Recent NVP transactions include Airespace (acquired by Cisco Systems), Resonext Communications (acquired by RF Micro Devices), Spinnaker Networks (acquired by Network Appliance) and Winphoria Networks (acquired by Motorola). NVP has also funded such market leaders as Actel Corporation, Brocade Communications, Cerent (acquired by Cisco Systems), Documentum, Extreme Networks, Forte Software (acquired by Sun Microsystems), PeopleSoft and Tivoli Systems (acquired by IBM). Additional information on Norwest Venture Partners is available at www.nvp.com.

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Source: Business Wire

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