Naspers-Backed ibiboGroup Acquires Online Bus Tracking And Analytics Startup YourBus In India

Less than a year after acquiring India’s largest online bus travel booking site redbus for around $135 million, ibibo is doubling down on the segment in India for a bigger emerging markets play by acquiring bus analytics startup YourBus.in. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

YourBus.in is a GPS-based bus tracking and analytics platform that provides real-time information to travelers and bus operators.

ibiboGroup will integrate the YourBus platform with both its existing online travel properties, redBus.in and Goibibo.com. The YourBus founder and his team will be joining redBus, the companies said in a statement.

“Our key motivation to acquire YourBus is to enhance passenger experience at redBus.in and Goibibo.com, whilst at the same time providing additional technologies and analytics to the Bus operators so as to increase their efficiencies in the marketplace,” Ashish Kashyap, CEO of ibiboGroup said in a statement.

The online bus travel industry in India was shaped by redBus, which brought different stakeholders including bus operators and travelers on a single platform. By the time redBus was sold to Ibibo last year, it was handling over 1 million passengers every month with potential to cross 10 million in few years.

Clearly, ibiboGroup is seeing that opportunity ahead. YourBus acquisition will also help redBus build a better mobile experience for its customers.

“One of the biggest growth drivers is redbus mobile, where we are seeing huge month on month growth across the platforms of Android, iOS, Windows,” said Kashyap.

YourBus was founded in 2012 by Satya Padmanabham D and Mallipeddi Rajesh.

“Passengers will have the ability to track the location of the bus, departure and arrival time, intimation on delays as well as location of boarding points. At the same time the Bus operators listed on redBus.in will get access to analytics related efficiency of their buses,” he added.