Newstrack

Flightraja now Via, announces US$ 5 million VC

Gayatri Vijaykumar - Bangalore

Flightraja, a travel services portal, has announced that it has raised US$ 5 million investment from NEA Indo US ventures, a venture capitalistic firm. Vinay Gupta, chief executive officer of Flightraja also announced that the company will be renamed as 'Via'. Via, is an archaic Latin word meaning by the way of. Flightraja plans to use the investment to expand its services beyond airlines. According to Gupta, the US$ 5 million investment will be used to beef up sales, training and operations. "With the structured funding available we can make huge investments and also foray into hotel, rail and bus bookings," he said. The new project plans include providing international flight booking services, car rentals by the end of 2007 and tying up with 100 bus operators.

Speaking on the occasion, Vani Kola, managing director of NEA- IndoUS Ventures who has also joined Via's board of directors, said "Earlier venture capitalists did not invest much in small companies, however now there are enough markets to absorb start up companies. " She added that 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.

Via, formerly known as Flightraja, established in 2006, is a full-service travel company. Founded by a team of engineers including Vinay Gupta, Amit Aggrawal, Rohit Gaddi, Harsh Azad and industry veterans including Niranjan Gupta and Ashwini Kakkar, Via's travel network is spread across 290 cities and issues 5000 tickets a day. With over 3000 agents registered with Via, the company has the widest network in India today. The company is also the first to introduce mobile-based search for fare details and ticketing on all airlines and reservation kiosks. Based in Bangalore currently, the company also has plans of opening up branches Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.