Yatra raises Rs 100cr in debt funding from InnoVen Capital

Online travel portal, Yatra has raised Rs 100 crore venture debt from Temasek's venture debt arm InnoVen Capital. The money will be used to meet the company’s growth and diversification needs, and to enhance its service offerings.

“After having raised $92 million through our Nasdaq listing in December 2016, this debt funding provides us additional capital for our growth needs,” Yatra group CFO Alok Vaish said. Nasdaq-listed Yatra recently bolstered its corporate travel services platform by acquiring Air Travel Bureau.

This is InnoVen’s second funding to Yatra. The venture debt provider had previously extended $4 million to Yatra in 2013. “This financing round by InnoVen Capital is the largest venture debt funding provided to any Indian business and also the largest venture debt deal funded by any venture debt firm in India,” said Chin Chao, interim chief executive, InnoVen Capital India and chief executive of InnoVen Capital South East Asia.

InnoVen Capital that entered India in 2008 as the first dedicated venture debt provider in the country says that the space for venture debt is increasing among larger companies and the fund is in talks with a few more companies for similar deals.

The venture debt provider has so far provided over $225 million in capital to more than 100 tech startups across India including Oyo Rooms, Swiggy, Byju’s, Nestaway, Pepperfry, Prizm Payments, Shaadi.com, Shopclues, Myntra, Freecharge, Manthan Software, Firstcry, Practo and Capillary Technologies.