FlightRaja Secures $5 Million Investment from NEA IndoUS Ventures
FlightRaja, an innovative travel services company and India's largest domestic ticket services provider, today announced that it has raised an investment of $5 million from NEA Indo US Ventures, a venture capitalist firm. The investment will enable the company to strengthen its leadership position in the travel industry by expanding its services beyond airline. FlightRaja has also announced that the brand will be renamed as 'Via' reflecting the significant role it plays through the networks it is creating in the travel domain. These will enable people to access, plan and buy travel products and services through 'Via' in the most convenient manner.
Tweet-- Via is committed to providing customers a unique experience by creating a world where travel is convenient and travelers are always assured of a reliable network and efficient services. This has been demonstrated in the path breaking first of its kind initiatives introduced by ‘Via’. These include the first SMS based mobile booking for all airlines, kiosk based booking for people on the move and online services for travel partners. Such an integrated platform was unavailable to the customers outside the ‘Via Network’.
"We are very pleased to have received this significant investment from NEA IndoUS Ventures.”, said Vinay Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Via. “As we move forward in expanding ourselves beyond airline services, the new brand will help our customers identify with us better. Today, we provide the widest network of travel agents and ticketing channels such as SMS booking, kiosks, agents, online, etc to our customers in India. We will continue to use our path-breaking technology to understand their needs better and service them efficiently. It is extremely important to bridge the demand supply gap in the travel industry by balancing cost and time.”
Niranjan Gupta, Chief Operating Officer, Via said, "This investment is a testimony of the range of our services and customer satisfaction. We are currently issuing over 4000 tickets on a daily basis and this number is growing rapidly. We will continue to deliver innovative solutions to meet customer needs in the most cost effective way. The underlining basis of our growth would always be customer satisfaction, transparency and ease of use.”
Speaking on the occasion, Vani Kola, Managing Director, NEA-IndoUS Ventures, who has joined VIA’s Board of Directors, said “VIA is a pioneer in the travel industry. The company possesses a unique and compelling business model that reflects in its excellent track record. The travel industry has immense potential to grow in India and VIA is quite capable of capturing the market with the rich experience of its founding members. This funding is an important step towards our mission to support new ventures and innovative ideas."
Notes to Editor
About VIA
VIA (formerly known as FlightRaja), established in 2006 and profitable since then, is a full service travel company and has been defining new paradigms in the travel industry. It is founded by a team of engineers including Vinay Gupta, Amit Aggarwal, Rohit Gaddi, Harsh Azad Niranjan Gupta and industry veterans including Niranjan Gupta and Ashwini Kakkar. The company has played a significant role in empowering travel agents all over the country with instant ticketing solutions. The company’s travel network is spread across 290 cities with over 3000 agents. The company has the widest network in India today.