The capital will be utilised to meet the growth and diversification needs of Yatra and to add new services

InnoVen Capital, a leading leading venture debt firm with operations in India and Singapore, has invested INR 100 crore (US$15.4 million) in Yatra.com, a leading online travel platform (OTA) in India.

This is InnoVen’s second round of investment in Yatra. The venture debt firm had previously infused US$4 million into Yatra in 2013.

The newly-raised capital will be utilised to meet the growth and diversification needs of Yatra and to add new services to its list. “After having raised US$92 million through our Nasdaq listing in December 2016, this debt funding provides us additional capital for our growth needs,” said Yatra’s group CFO Alok Vaish.

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Yatra, one of the oldest OTAs in India, provides a range of travel-related services, such as domestic and international air ticketing, hotel booking, homestays, holiday packages, bus ticketing, rail ticketing, activities, attractions and ancillary services. The firm recently announced the acquisition of Air Travel Bureau, an independent corporate travel services provider.

Started in 2008, InnoVen Capital provides debt capital to high-growth ventures. The platform offers multiple debt capital solutions, including venture debt, acquisition finance, growth loans, and syndication. InnoVen has since then expanded to Southeast Asia and China.

To date, InnoVen Capital has provided over 165 loans to more than 120 startups across various stages and geographies, including Oyo Rooms, Swiggy, Pepperfry, Shopclues, Byju’s, Freecharge, Myntra, Firstcry, Capillary and Practo in India, and 123RF, RedDoorz, M17 Entertainment and Oway in Southeast Asia.

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Yatra is mainly competing with Nasdaq-lisetd MakeMyTrip, which is in the midst of raising US$330 million in equity investment from MIH Internet, a subsidiary of South African Internet giant Naspers Group, Chinese online travel honcho Ctrip International, and a few undisclosed investors.

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