Onetwotrip.com, the rising star of the Russian online travel industry, intends to go public “as early as next year, once sales approach $1 billion a year,” CEO Petr Kutis told Bloomberg last week. The startup claims to have generated $306 million in gross sales last year, including $112 million in the last quarter alone.
In an exchange with East-West Digital News, Kutis confirmed that the company would float its stock “in a Western stock exchange” and that he would indicate later this year exactly where.
Kutis has not ruled out, however, a new round of private equity financing before the IPO.
On the commercial front, Onetwotrip is preparing an “aggressive entry” into the hotel-booking market, where it will measure itself against such global leaders as Priceline.com Inc. and Expedia Inc.
Western Europe and Great Britain will be the next battlefields, Kutis indicated to EWDN.
Since its inception in May 2011, Onetwotrip.com has asserted itself as a market leader, providing Russian travel aficionados with a number of smart features. These include an intelligent search system of prices, flight options and routes; statistics of the flight delays for every particular destination/airline; information on airplane model and age as well as on distances between the seats.
Onetwotrip also emphasizes savings, with discounts on tickets booked for a travel date in the very near future and a bonus system for loyal customers.
Onetwotrip has created “the most efficient, elegant and innovative travel service not only in Russia, but anywhere in the world,” international venture fund Atomico stated when it took part in a $25 million round of financing last year.
