Rategain Travel Technologies Limited

Travel industry software provider RateGain is set to hit the markets with its ₹1,336 crore IPO. After a profitable FY19, it suffered losses in the last two fiscals due to pandemic-related sluggishness in the tourism sector.  However, the third-party travel technology space is estimated to grow at 18% CAGR till 2025. RateGain, with its long standing client relationship and advanced AI-based products, stands to gain from this trend. The company has also won the ‘ Most Innovative Startup’ award at the Economic Times Innovation Awards in 2020.

Bhanu Chopra, the founder of RateGain, was a frequent traveller. He would go to different websites and do price comparisons. Inspired by his own experience, Chopra started RateGain in 2004 but with a little twist. His company provided hotels with their competitors’ pricing. Cut to 2021, it has evolved into India’s largest Software as a Service (SaaS) company in the travel and hospitality industry.

The company has three business verticals - Data as a Service(DaaS), Distribution and Marketing technology. Across these verticals, it serves 1,462 customers across the world.

Revenue: -2.12%; Net profit: NA (FY19-21 CAGR). The business performance was adversely impacted due to the pandemic.

The demand for third party software has risen during the pandemic as companies are reducing in-house IT staff. In fact, the t hird party travel and hospitality technology space is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 18% to $11.5 by 2025. Another tailwind for the company is that its marketing technology segment is quickly emerging as a strong revenue contributor with high social media adoption by the client hotels.