Ebix Inc, the parent company of ItzCash, has marked its fifth acquisition in India by acquiring Sequoia backed online travel portal Via.com, it said in a press statement.
This acquisition marks U.S. based on demand software supplier Ebix’s distribution network to over 224,000 outlets in South-east Asia, besides offering significant cross-selling opportunities for Ebix’s EbixCash (former ItzCash) Financial Exchange portfolio of products, the company said.
Bengaluru based Via.com’s enterprise value for the transactions was $74.9 million, which is expected to be carried out within few days.
Via.com is a travel deals aggregator and ticket booking portal and sells holiday packages. Operated by Flightraja Travels Pvt. Ltd, it was founded back in 2007 by Vinay Gupta and Amit Aggarwal.
“The addition of Via’s integrated platform into our rapidly growing EbixCash (rebranded ItzCash payments entity) financial exchange places us in a very strong position… This allows us tremendous cross-selling opportunities,” Ebix chairman and CEO Robin Raina said. “For us taking a strong position in travel was important, since insurance, remittances, phone recharges, prepaid gift cards etc. are the things that complement a consumer’s needs when they engage in travel,” he added.
Ebix also announced that it expects Via to generate around $33 million in GAAP revenues in 2018, with approximately 30% operating margins.