Indian travel search site ixigo.com has launched a metasearch app for taxis and signed a distribution deal with Blablacar as the taxi/ride-sharing sector in India reverberates in the wake of Ola's $400 million megafunding last week.
Ixigo.com will advertise Blablacar's Indian inventory on its web site and portfolio of apps. Interestingly, the partnership also sees Blablacar options appear when users search for other travel options - air, trains or buses - between cities in India.
Blablacar is based in France and operates in nearly twenty countries, claiming to be the world's largest ride-sharing app with more than 20 million members. It started its Indian business this January.
Last week it bought Carpooling in Germany and Autohop in Hungary as a sign that ride-sharing is starting to see consolidation in the same way as other transportation-based sectors.
Back in India, ride-sharing and taxi services are front page news, following Ola's $400m Series E funding round confirmed last week and Uber's will-it-wont-it approach to the Indian market.
Ixigo is also active in taxis, keeping true to its metasearch roots with the launch of ixigo cabs, an app which aggregates inventory from other apps into one screen and connects to the respective booking platform. It works in more than 100 cities in India.
Indian OTA MakeMyTrip bought a 19.9% stake in ixigo.com business in August 2011. Venture capitalist firm SAIF Investment bought a 56.7% stake at the same time, with the pair contributed $18.5 million.
Elsewhere, Ridingo, a Bangalore-based car-pooling start-up with 10,000 members, has been acquired by car rental firm Carzonrent for an undisclosed sum.