Last week Oktogo.ru announced the acquisition of information portal Travel.ru for a price of “up to $2 million including stock incentives,” according to a company statement.
Founded in 1998, Travel.ru is one of the oldest resources in the Russian-language online travel segment. It reaches approximately 1.7 million users each month with up to 5 million page views, according to Live Internet. The combined monthly traffic of Travel.ru and Oktogo reaches 3 million, according to Oktogo.ru.
“We will further enhance the Oktogo.ru hotel product with unique content from Travel.ru and leverage our hotel product to better serve the loyal audience of Travel.ru. As a result, we will be able to deliver a unique service to customers at different stages of the decision making cycle – from those who gather information and search to those who shop and buy travel products,” Oktogo’s founder and CEO Marina Kolesnik stated.
Kolesnik declined to comment further on whether the two sites were to remain separate or would be merged to create one platform.
A leading online hotel booking service, Oktogo has attracted $26 million in venture investment in total since its creation in 2010. The latest round of financing, which amounted to $11 million, took place in March of this year with the participation of Russian entrepreneur Victor Sazhin.
Luxembourg’s Mangrove Capital Partners and France’s Ventech, as well as Russian funds ABRT and VTB Capital, have also been involved in funding the startup.
Oktogo’s database comprises more than 250,000 hotels across the globe, including 5,000 in Russia. Its customers generate an average order value of $400, with the site earning a commission ranging from 10% to 20%.
The company’s turnover reached up to $30 million last year, Kolesnik told East-West Digital News, up from $10 million in 2011, but “several times less” than her expectations for 2013.
Among Oktogo’s competitors are Ostrovok.ru, which cut a third of its staff last June in spite of considerable funding, Ozon Travel, the specialized arm of Ozon.ru, and major international players.
Data Insight estimated that the Russian online hotel booking market reached $900 million in 2012.
- RUSSIAN E-COMMERCE REPORT – The total volume of Russian online retail reached approximately $13 billion in 2012, up 27% from the previous year, not including cross border sales. In partnership leading universities and consultancies, EWDN has published an in-depth research on this industry. To receive free insights or to order the full version (2013 edition), please contact us at [email protected].
