Chennai, India – February 19, 2015: Stayzilla.com, the leading online accommodation bookings marketplace and the fastest growing player in India’s travel ecosystem, has raised a $15 million Series B round led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from existing investor Matrix Partners India. The funds will be used to expand to new cities, develop a stronger brand platform and work with accommodation owners to accelerate the growth of the emerging structured and alternate accommodations market in India, which includes hotels, homestays, guest houses, resorts, B&B’s, jungle lodges, boat houses, paying guests, et al.
The online hospitality industry in India has grown significantly over the past five years and travelers are seeking new and unique accommodation options across the country. Stayzilla.com has developed a platform to address this market by offering a selection of more than 20,000 accommodations across more than 4,000 towns.
Commenting on the funding, Yogendra Vasupal, Founder & CEO, Stayzilla.com said, “Stayzilla is the market leader for accommodation bookings in India today. We have achieved tremendous growth over the last year and this investment will help us expand exponentially and tap newer destinations to reach 8000 towns and 50,000 accommodations by the end of the year. For accommodation owners and customers, our end-to-end managed marketplace model has been our biggest strength and we will continue to build on this to complement the massive tourism potential across India.
He also added, “In line with this, over the next few quarters, we will also focus on inflecting the nascent alternate accommodations market in India which is several times larger than the hotel reservations industry. Our marketplace platform is a key driver of change and opportunity in this segment. We are excited to welcome Nexus Venture Partners to Stayzilla as we continue to further grow our platform.”
“Stayzilla is leading the alternate accommodations revolution in India, creating for the first time a marketplace of all kinds of accommodation options across 4000 towns. Stayzilla’s explosive growth, particularly on mobile, reinforces the power of discovery driven marketplaces in a market like India. Matrix Partners India is privileged to be an early partner to Yogi Vasupal and the Stayzilla team in this journey.” said Avnish Bajaj, co-founder and Managing Director, Matrix India.
“The increasing penetration of internet and smartphones coupled with India’s dynamic demographics has created the need for a platform that aggregates the entire range of accommodations options in India. We are very impressed with Stayzilla’s innovative end-to-end solutions to address the reality of low technology adoption among suppliers. We are delighted to partner with Yogi and the Stayzilla team to capitalize on the immense potential of this model in the coming years.” said Anup Gupta, Managing Director, Nexus Venture Partners.
