Through its wholly owned subsidiary Adani Digital Labs, Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) is prepared to purchase the online train booking and information platform Trainman.
According to a document filed with the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the board of AEL has been informed that its wholly owned subsidiary, Adani Digital Labs Pvt Ltd, has signed a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) in connection with its proposed acquisition of 100% equity shares in Trainman (Stark Enterprises Pvt Ltd).
Vineet Chirania and Karan Kumar, both IIT Roorkee graduates, founded the Gurugram-based train ticketing website Trainman. It claims to have more than 1 million train ticket bookings and more than 8 million app downloads, according to its website.
Around $1.15 million (roughly Rs 9 crore) has been raised for Trainman so far from Goodwater Capital, Hem Angels, Ivy Growth Associates, and other investors. It raised about $1 million in its final funding round in July 2022 at a post-money valuation of $10 million (roughly Rs. 80 crore).
In FY22, Trainman’s operational revenue increased by 2X to Rs 2.53 crore from Rs 1.23 crore. According to the company’s annual financial reports filed with the RoC, losses increased 5.8X to Rs 1.22 crore in FY22 from Rs 21 lakh the year before.
Adani Group introduced Adani One for the purchase of taxi and flight tickets in December of last year as a step toward its super app. The group bought a small stake in ClearTrip, a travel app owned by Flipkart, in October 2021.
The purchase of Trainman appears to be a step in the right direction for Adani Group’s digital transformation and to give it a foothold in the travel industry.
One of Trainman’s rivals, Confirmtkt, was purchased by the travel technology firm ixigo in February 2021.
