Ixigo (Le Travenues Technology), the travel technology company that acquired Hyderabad-based bus ticketing platform Abhibus in August, is looking to expand its position in both the bus ticketing category and the Hyderabad region.

With a 10% market share in the bus industry, Abhibus is the second-largest online travel agency. Ixigo now employs 100 people at Abhibus's Hyderabad headquarters and expects to increase the workforce in the near future. There are plans to invest in bus technology. Hyderabad has shown a solid rate of digital payment uptake for the platform and continues to be a critical market, according to sources.

Apart from consolidating its foothold in Hyderabad, the firm intends to expand into important areas in the south, notably tier-1 markets. Additionally, there will be an emphasis on content localization throughout southern and pan-India markets.

Ixigo, founded in 2007 by Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar, is a technology company that assists travelers in making travel decisions through the use of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and data science-driven innovations. The company offers separate apps for booking trains, buses, and flights, and their multi-app strategy enables them to be relevant to both metros and tier II/III/IV travelers.

By the end of fiscal 2021, Ixigo trains and Confirm Tkt had a combined 42% market share in terms of rail bookings across IRCTC's OTAs and B2C distributors. Ixigo was the third largest flight OTA in India in fiscal 2021, with a volume-based market share of 12% of the entire OTA airline market.

With the 'next billion users' likely to prefer voice commands over text and the majority of internet searches in non-tier I cities conducted via voice and gesture commands, Ixigo intends to expand voice capabilities across its platforms, particularly for its use cases and their AI-powered personal travel assistant, TARA.

In the future, the firm intends to continue evaluating strategic alliances, investments, and acquisitions. The business expects to use a portion of the revenues from the IPO to conduct promotions targeting first-time rail, bus, and aircraft reservations.