IPO-bound RateGain Travel Technologies Ltd, a provider of SaaS solutions for travel and hospitality, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire myhotelshop, a German company that helps hotels boost their business in the post-covid world.
The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Established in 2012, the Leipzig-headquartered myhotelshop provides solutions aimed at increasing direct sales and developing a profitable distribution channel to hotels.
“As covid-19 accelerated digitization of customer interactions, nine out of 10 travellers engage(d) with travel online, according to (travel research firm) Phocuswright. The research also shows that most travellers do not shop and book from the same source, with a majority of shoppers searching on online travel agents and booking on hotel websites. In the midst of multiple channels, including intermediaries, metasearch and online travel agents, hotels are struggling to create the optimum distribution strategy that helps them drive more bookings and lower acquisition costs. This increases the need for hotels to move away from disparate systems and have a single provider that can help them get better control on guest acquisition and reduce dependency on one channel,” the company said in a statement.
myhotelshop offers a reporting, bid management and campaign intelligence platform for metasearch publishers and other travel products that enables hotel suppliers, online travel agents and agency clients to reach more customers at higher returns.
“The merger will help in addressing a key challenge that the industry is facing in the post-covid world that is witnessing increased digitization. The need to become digital first is increasingly becoming chaotic and we aim to make it simpler for hotels to manage their acquisition strategy and enable them to unlock new revenue,” said Bhanu Chopra, founder, RateGain.
RateGain filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in August. The firm plans to raise ₹400 crore through the IPO.
In addition, the company’s existing private equity investor TA Associates will sell 17.1 million shares in the offer, and other individual shareholders will sell 5.49 million shares.
TA Associates holds 22.8% stake in the company currently and is selling a significant portion of its shares in the IPO. The promoters of the company hold over 50% stake in the company.
