Thursday, March 28

Cleartrip buys Saudi Arabia’s Flyin as its first overseas acquisition

Online travel agency Cleartrip has sealed its first ever cross-border acquisition in Saudi Arabia’s Travel Aggregator Flyin. The acquisition will help Cleartrip strengthen its presence and expand its client base in Saudi Arabian market.

Though the financial details of the deal have not been disclosed by the travel firm, it has come six years after Cleartrip entered the Gulf Cooperation Council region in 2012.

As informed by the company, the combined entity will account for 60% of market share in the Middle East, which will enable both the companies to strengthen their travel offerings to cater to a diverse customer base.

Stuart Crighton, Founder and CEO of Cleartrip said,

With its strong customer base and rich travel offerings, Flyin is the natural partner for us in the region. We will leverage each other’s strengths to enhance product development and customer experience.

Flyin was founded in 2008 and has about 320,000 hotels and over 450 airlines in access. Abdullah Al Romaih, Founder of Flyin said,

“Bringing over a decade’s international experience and industry-leading technologies and skills, Cleartrip will also help us to offer our customers new and enhanced travel experiences. We look forward to having Cleartrip continue to support the economic growth in the Kingdom, as well as the evolving travel needs of our customers.”

Cleartrip which competes directly with MakeMyTrip and Yatra offers a platform for booking hotels, flights and trains. Founded in 2006 by Stuart Crighton, Hrush Bhatt and Matthew Space it has raised about $70 million from Concur Technologies, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DAG Ventures and Gund Investment Corporation.