New Delhi: Ibibo Group-owned online bus ticketing platform redBus on Monday said it has acquired a majority stake in Peru-based online bus ticketing platform Busportal (Empresa Digital Peruana S.A.C.) for an undisclosed amount.
This investment in Busportal.pe will give redBus an entry into large and under-penetrated online bus ticketing markets in Latin America, such as Peru, Colombia, and Chile. In addition to its local market expertise, Busportal will leverage the redBus technology, product and brand name to launch and grow these markets, the company said in a statement.
The co-founders of Busportal, Hassan Bourgi and Carol Riboud, will continue to drive the operations in Peru and further expand into Colombia and Chile, it added.
redBus, which was acquired by the Ibibo Group, a subsidiary of South African mass media company Naspers Ltd for $100 million in 2013, expanded to Singapore and Malaysia in June last year.
redBus offers services of over 2,300 bus operators across 70,000 routes in India. Besides ticket bookings, it also provides technology and tools to bus companies such as inventory and pricing engines, analytics and data.
“We are excited to partner with Hassan and Carol to expand redBus into Peru, Columbia and Chile. The founders have demonstrated deep insights in building their startup, BusPortal. We believe that this will be a strong combination of local knowledge and the robust global platform and technology of redBus,” said Ashish Kashyap, founder and chief executive officer of ibibo.
Busportal allows users to compare and purchase bus tickets from more than 20 bus operators in Peru and covers more than 70% of the routes.
“The arrival of redBus will enable bus operators to use the technological tools of redBus to optimize their revenues and the industry will tend to be more organized to the benefit of consumers. We are happy to be part of this change and help both bus companies and bus customers,” said Riboud.
The number of bookings on redBus has surged more than three times since its acquisition from 600,000 every month in 2013 to 2.1 million at present, Mint reported in March.
Apart from redBus, earlier owned by Pilani Soft Labs Pvt. Ltd, Ibibo Group in March 2014 also acquired YourBus.in, an online bus tracking and analytics platform owned by Lucido SoftLabs Pvt. Ltd.
In February, Ibibo Group said that it will raise an additional $250 million from South African media company Naspers Group.
Source: Mint