Ebix, a Nasdaq-listed software and services provider, has bought India-based via.com in a deal valuing the omnichannel travel, fintech and retail business at $75 million.
The deal was conducted by Ebix's Singaporean subsidiary Ebix Cash, which sells various financial services through offline and online channels across APAC. Via has also been growing its presence across APAC and the Middle East.
The release talks about cross-selling between each party's existing online and offline networks. As well as selling travel, via.com distributes other services such as mobile phone recharges, money transfers, insurance, prepaid gift cards and other retail product.
Via.com claims to be "the only profitable travel exchange out of all its peers" having seen a compound annual growth rate of 45% over the past three years. Ebix says that the deal will be "accretive to Ebix earnings immediately..." and will "generate around $33 million in GAAP revenues in 2018 with approximately 30% operating margins."
Via.com handles 24.5 million transactions a year. Via.com's offline network comprises 85,000 agents in India, 14,700 in Indonesia, 9,900 in Philippines, 600 in Singapore and 350 in the UAE and Oman. It also has 8000 corporate clients while B2C operations in Thailand, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia are "gaining traction."
The move by Ebix into travel is positioned as part of its vision for financial exchanges across APAC. Robin Raina, chief executive officer at Ebix Inc said:
"This 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.”
Via sees itself as omnichannel, and its approach to mobile for India and other markets factors in both its B2B and B2C operations. tnooz talked to Himanshu Garg, its vice-president of mobile, and Ashu Gupta, its head of international technology, just under a year ago. It had just launched a B2C mobile brand ViaLite as a progressive web app to give consumers in areas with weak connectivity access to its products. Via was also making sure that its B2B platform was mobile-friendly for agents.
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