Holidify Raises $100K in Angel Round to Strengthen its Technology

Shown Above: Holidify’s Team

Holidify, a Delhi based startup founded by IIT Bombay alumni has raised an angel round of funding of $100K led by Promoter of a chemicals company Aarti Group. The promoter family of Aarti Group has earlier invested in education startup Plancess, Bewakoof.com and Humming Whale, creator of Gladius Technology Cricket Bats. The funding round also saw participation from Naman Sarawagi (founder of Findyogi) and Himanshu Sarawagi.

Holidify is a holiday discovery platform that helps users plan their trips with essential information on the question where to go for their next holiday. The funds raised will be used in technology and content expansion. Its Android app was launched in June 2015 and is currently has more than 10,000 downloads.

Started in 2014, Holidify was founded by Kovid Kapoor and Rohit Shroff, both graduates from IIT Bombay. Before Holidify, Rohit and Kovid were working with Indus Insights and Opera Solutions respectively, both analytics based management consultancy firms.

The website receives around 5 lakh monthly visitors and it has seen a growth of 10 times since last year. Serving over 800 holiday ideas currently, the platform has built a smart recommendation engine to show relevant results based on users’ location and preferences. Users get essential information like top things to do, places to visit, how to reach, restaurants and local cuisine, etc. to plan their trip.

Holidify is also in talks with a few VC firms to raise a bigger round soon which will help them expand operations and offer customized packages to their users.

Companies like Tripadvisor, Ixigo and startups like Traverik are also operating in similar space. Talking about their product differentiation, Rohit explained that, “We are not an OTA, nor are we like portals like Tripadvisor. We do the initial controlling of what goes into the site ourselves to ensure quality. We don’t crowdsource. Because then it gets complicated and there will be no point to the site. Good, structured information just vanishes, that’s the problem with sites like Tripadvisor.”

Source: http://www.iamwire.com/2015/10/holidify-raises-100k-in-angel-round-to-strengthen-its-technology/124722