Over the past few months, the startup ecosystem has witnessed a slowdown in funding and the story is being replicated in travel industry as well. A significant mismatch between the claims in pitch deck and results in quarterly reports has forced the investors to go on the defensive and be overcautious while investing in young startups. Investors are now looking at sustainable businesses that can show a quicker path to profitability. This has resulted in startups looking for ways to cut down costs, lower the growth momentum and even pivot into more frugal models.

This slowdown in funding has led to the shift of Holidify’s co-founder Kovid Kapoor from the startup to Saavn, the company that provides music streaming services. Holidify is a destination discovery platform that allows travellers to find destinations and book their trips. The news comes only a few weeks after the other co-founder, Rohit Shroff left the startup to join Girnar Software Pvt Ltd, the parent company of automobile portal CarDekho.com. Holidify was trying to restructure its operations after Rohit’s exit.

As a news report suggests, Kapoor has denied commenting on the reasons behind leaving the company however earlier Shroff commented on the funding drying up in travel space and the challenge faced by Holidify in raising fresh funds. Started in 2014, Holidify raised USD 100K in funding from multiple investors less than six months back. They founders were also in talks with few VC firms to raise a bigger round following the investment.

Both the co-founders will remain only as advisors to the company and all the future decisions related to Holidify will be taken by the investors. One of the investors has shared that they are working out things and it will take around 2-3 months before the company gets back on the right track.

Holidify was on a steep uphill climb as the space is highly competitive and there are multiple online and offline players that would allow travellers to book their trips. Even with the differentiators, the battle is to offer something unique to the customer and turn them into paying customers. However the bigger question here is if this slowdown in funding will result in the stronger players dominating the scene?

Source: VCCircle

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Delhi based destination discovery platform Holidify has recently raised $100K in a round of funding led by Promoter of Aarti Group. Holidify is a holiday discovery platform to help users plan their trips. It primarily focuses on less known destinations and weekend getaways thus helping users discover the right destination according to their preferences. It was founded in 2014 by IIT Bombay alumni Kovid Kapoor and Rohit Shroff after working for a while in management consultancy firms.

Apart from the Promoter of Aarti Group, this funding round also saw participation from Naman Sarawagi (founder of Findyogi) and Himanshu Sarawagi. The promoter family of Aarti Industries has invested in other startups in the past including Bewakoof.com, Plancess and Humming Whale.

This is the first round of external funding for the startup. The Holidify website gets around 500,000 views per month with good rate of engagement due to their focus on content to drive travel inspiration. It has a smart recommendation engine to show results relevant to the users so that they can plan easily. The funds will be used to further enhance the product by exploring technology and also to expand the content. It has been reported that Holidify is in talks with some VC firms to raise a bigger round of funding soon that will help expand operations quickly.

Holidify is accessible through the desktop website or app. The Android app was introduced recently and has already crossed 10,000 downloads with good feedback from the users. You can try out Holidify for your next weekend getaway using the website or Android app.

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