Russia’s Oktogo.ru, the online travel company and hotel aggregator, has raised $5m. The round was led by Mangrove Capital, while ABRT and French fund Ventech VC also participated. Additionally, the founder of OLX, Fabrice Grinda and Jose Marin of IG Expansion will be joining the board.
The new investment will be used by Oktogo to pick up more Russian hotels as customers (7,000 apparently), accelerate growth and build the company’s brand awareness.
Oktogo.ru now reaches 2,000 contracted hotels creating what it claims is the largest contracted hotels database in Russia and former Soviet Replublics. In addition, Oktogo.ru says it has the “largest and most relevant hotel offering” for Russians traveling abroad, including offline payment methods and visa support services.
On that note, David Waroquier, a partner at Mangrove Capital Partners, comments: “The management team at oktogo.ru is comprised of specialists in international online travel and IT with unique knowledge of the domestic travel and hospitality sectors in Russia and CIS. By backing Oktogo.ru we are investing in the potential and significant current growth of the Russian travel market”.