India’s only marketplace platform to book private air charters is likely to raise fresh funds in the coming months to augment its operational profile. The company is looking to strengthen its offerings for inbound leisure traffic and is also eyeing for opportunity to set its base beyond Indian boundaries.
JetSetGo, India’s only online platform for private charter bookings, is seeking another round of funding which is likely to materialize in the first quarter of the next fiscal. In a recent exclusive conversation with TourismFirst, the CEO of the firm Kanika Tekriwal confirmed that the platform has chalked out a major expansion plan which would need fresh capital infusion.
“ We have plans to make our tourism vertical stronger and are on the verge of announcing four itineraries for high-end tourists who mostly come from abroad. Plus, we decided to commence similar operations in Africa and the Middle East. We are looking for fresh capital infusion of around $4.5 million and are in talks with some high networth individuals (HNIs). The deal is likely to close before April end,” she said. Tekriwal also specified that the company is not talking to any private equity player. “ Our past experience tells us that PEs are not very supportive to aviation centric businesses even if it technology-based.” Even earlier, the first round of funding to the start-up had come from a couple of HNIs which included famous cricketer Yuvaraj Singh (for an undisclosed amount). The company is seeking fresh investments to expand its operational profile in 2016-17 which includes offering specified itineraries to the inbound leisure traffic as well as foray in the Gulf and African markets.
The company which had commenced its operations in April, 2014 on a low-key basis now claims to be growing steady with more charter operators in the country (about 300 aircrafts are available in the domestic charter space) coming to its loop. “ Today, we have 94 charter operators enlisted with us and there are about 170 aircrafts in our network. 55 percent of our revenue is coming from corporate clients while another 30 percent is coming from inbound tourism, primarily rich clients from developed markets as well as NRIs. We are clocking around 200 flights every month and by the end of this year, we are targeting to operate 10 flights every day,” Tekriwal underlined.