EbixCash acquires online travel portal Via.com

US-based software company EbixCash has acquired online travel portal Via.com for $75 million which will help Ebix to expand its distribution network across India and other South East Asian countries. Ebix has acquired the company through one of its Singapore subsidiaries. The closing of the transaction is expected over the next few days.

Robin Raina, chief executive officer of Ebix said, “I believe that the addition of Via’s integrated platform into our rapidly growing EbixCash financial exchange, allows us tremendous cross-selling opportunities through each other’s distribution networks as our product portfolio is complementary and a perfect fit for each of our distribution outlets and corporate clients.”

The Via distribution network encompasses over 85,000 agents in India, 14,700 agents in Indonesia, 9,900 agents in the Philippines, 600 agents in Singapore and 350 agents in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. With a hotel inventory of over 5,00,000 and having developed one of the largest ticketing platforms, Via has more than 5 percent share in both domestic and international airline ticketing in India.

According to Bhavik Vasa, chief growth officer at Ebix, the acquisition of Via will boost Ebix's presence in travel space while also allowing geographic expansion given that Via has a huge presence in South East Asia.