Aloke Bajpai: Building Ixigo, India's Travel Tech Leader for the Next Billion
Meet Aloke Bajpai, the IIT/INSEAD alum who bootstrapped Ixigo. Discover his journey, Ixigo's rise, funding, and vision for India's #1 travel app.
Aloke Bajpai stands as a prominent figure in India's vibrant startup ecosystem. As the Co-founder and Group CEO of Ixigo, he has steered the company from a fledgling idea in a Gurgaon apartment to become India's largest Online Travel Aggregator (OTA) by active users and app downloads, and the second largest by revenue. His nearly two-decade journey with Ixigo is a masterclass in resilience, frugal innovation, and unwavering customer focus, particularly aimed at serving the travel aspirations of India's 'Next Billion Users'.
This profile dives deep into Aloke Bajpai's story, the evolution of Ixigo, and the unique principles that drive them. For more candid insights and stories directly from Aloke, listen to his conversation on the Founder Thesis podcast.
Check out the video of the conversation here or read on for insights
Early Seeds: Kenya, Computers, and Curiosity 🌱
Aloke's formative years were uniquely shaped by spending part of his childhood in Mombasa, Kenya. Moving there at age seven, he was immersed in a multicultural melting pot, fostering an early curiosity about the world. Mombasa, a historically significant port and tourist hub, provided exposure to diverse ethnicities and cultures.
It was also here, in 1988, that an eight-year-old Aloke had his first encounter with technology – a summer course on Apple Macintosh computers at a local institute called 'Bits and Bytes'.
"It was love at first sight for me... I fell in love with the speech synth part back then and also built a few games of my own, I recall. So that was an integral part of my entrepreneurial journey, falling in love with computers at such a young age."
This early passion for computers, combined with an innate intellectual curiosity (he famously used prize money from a GK competition to buy an encyclopedia!), set the stage for his future path.
The IIT Kanpur & INSEAD Foundation 🎓
Returning to India, Aloke settled in Kanpur. Inspired by visits to the serene IIT Kanpur campus with his father, he dedicated himself to rigorous study, securing admission into the prestigious institution for Electrical Engineering (1997-2001).
While academically bright (he was also accepted into BITS Pilani), his time at IIT Kanpur wasn't just about grades. Facing fierce competition, he realised the importance of a holistic experience, channeling his passion for computers into practical projects, exploring ethical hacking (sometimes leading to bans from the computer center!), and building lifelong friendships – including with his future Ixigo co-founder, Rajnish Kumar. He graduated not as a top-ranker, but as someone with deep technical curiosity and diverse experiences.
"I think beyond the second year, I wasn't really caring about my grades... I was actually spending only thirty percent of my time studying... and seventy percent of my time really discovering new and cool things."
Seeking broader business acumen, Aloke later pursued an MBA from INSEAD (2004-2005), opting for the Singapore campus to be closer to the burgeoning Asian growth story he kept reading about while working in Europe. He also spent time as an exchange student at The Wharton School.
Amadeus & The European Experience 🇫🇷
Post-IIT, Aloke joined Amadeus SAS, a global travel technology giant, in Nice, France. Initially, he worked as a Software Engineer on a cutting-edge project: building the world's first browser-based cruise booking engine for travel agents ('Amadeus Cruise') using nascent web technologies like JavaScript.
Later, he moved into a Systems & Network Engineer role, managing backend infrastructure and gaining experience in operations and network security for a large-scale environment. However, despite the idyllic French Riviera lifestyle and a comfortable job, a sense of frustration grew. The relatively slow pace and feeling like a "small cogwheel in a big system" clashed with his ambition.
"When you're twenty-four, twenty-five and you're ambitious, like, that doesn't work... you probably wanna do more, stretch yourself more, grow faster, learn more stuff."
The "Swades" Moment & The Entrepreneurial Itch ✨
Two key events during his INSEAD year (2005) solidified his resolve:
Watching the movie "Swades": The story of an NRI returning to contribute to India resonated deeply.
"To me, it sounded like, you know, that's my story and I really should be going back now to contribute with my skill set in my own country..."
Steve Jobs' Stanford Commencement Speech: This prompted him to connect the dots – his travel industry experience, love for technology and the internet, and the massive opportunity unfolding in India.
Although the desire to start something was strong, Aloke initially took a VP role at FinalQuadrant Solutions Ltd. in India (Sept 2005 - Mar 2006) to gain local market experience and business development skills. But the entrepreneurial urge was relentless.
The Birth of Ixigo: From B2B Dreams to B2C Metasearch 🚀
In June 2006, Aloke quit his job, rented a modest apartment in a then-underdeveloped Gurgaon, and convinced his IIT friend and Amadeus colleague Rajnish Kumar (and another friend) to join him. Their initial idea, under the company name 'Travvenues' (Travel + Avenues), was a B2B SaaS play – providing technology solutions to airlines and travel agents.
However, they soon realized the B2B sales cycles were long, and the B2C opportunity in India's nascent online travel market (MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Cleartrip were just raising funds) was too significant to ignore. By late 2006, they pivoted.
Instead of becoming another OTA, they chose a metasearch model – aggregating fares from airlines and OTAs, allowing users to compare deals in one place and redirecting them to book. They named this venture Ixigo ("I explore, I go").
Launched on June 3rd, 2007, Ixigo quickly gained traction through word-of-mouth, fueled by a superior user experience (using cutting-edge AJAX for speed), innovative features (like fair calendars), and early mobile WAP/SMS integrations.
"Just on the sheer UX and simplicity that we came up with... we were overwhelmed by the kind of response we got within the first few weeks... It just grew, like, wildfire by word-of-mouth."
Ixigo: Scaling India's AI-Powered Travel Platform 📈
Over the next 18+ years, Ixigo navigated the complexities of the Indian travel market, evolving significantly:
From Metasearch to OTA: While starting as a metasearch engine, Ixigo gradually transitioned towards a full-fledged OTA model, taking ownership of the transaction to better control customer experience – a key differentiator Aloke aims for.
AI-Driven: The platform leverages AI extensively to personalize recommendations and provide travel solutions.
Focus on 'Next Billion Users': Ixigo strategically targets travelers from Tier II, III, and IV cities in India, often underserved by traditional players, with a strong focus on train and bus travel alongside flights and hotels.
Acquisitions & Growth: Ixigo acquired Confirmtkt (a leading train discovery platform) in Feb 2021 and AbhiBus (a major bus ticketing platform) later that year, significantly strengthening its position in ground transport. The Ixigo group now owns and operates all three apps.
Market Leadership: Today, Ixigo is India's largest OTA by active users and app downloads, and the second largest by revenue.
Funding, Frugality & Surviving Storms 🌪️💰
Ixigo's journey was marked by extreme financial discipline and navigating near-death experiences:
Bootstrapping (2006-2008): The initial phase was funded by founders' savings and small contributions from friends and family – totaling less than ₹20 lakhs (under $1 million across 5 years). They ran incredibly lean.
Seed Round (Feb 2008): Facing dwindling funds (a cheque for a ₹10,000 printer bounced!), Aloke flew to Singapore on a prayer and secured a crucial $500,000 seed round from BAF Spectrum, led by William Klipgen, impressed by the team and their frugality.
The 2008 Crisis: Just months later, the Lehman Brothers collapse scuttled a planned Series A round, leaving Ixigo with only 3-4 months of runway. In a defining moment of company culture:
"This young engineer called Ayush stand[s] up and says... 'why can't we all just work without salary for a few months?'... As founders, we went to zero, and the team went to half their salary. And that continued for almost nine months... not a single person of that core team... left us for at least two years post that moment."
Bridge Round (Early 2009): The team's commitment allowed them to raise a ~$500k bridge round from existing investors and angels (including INSEAD professors).
Series A (2011): Having reached near break-even through sheer grit and organic growth (often with zero marketing spend), Ixigo raised its Series A from SAIF Partners (now Elevation Capital) and MakeMyTrip.
Subsequent Funding: Ixigo has raised further rounds from investors including Sequoia Capital India (now Peak XV Partners), Fosun RZ Capital, GIC (Singapore's sovereign wealth fund), Info Edge Ventures, and others, leading up to its proposed IPO.
The Ixigo DNA: Customer Obsession & Blue Ocean Thinking 🌊💙
Aloke emphasizes a "Blue Ocean" approach – creating uncontested market space rather than fighting bloody battles with competitors.
"We don't compare ourselves with others... We should only spend more time with customers... If we know what the customers want, we would have built that even before the competition."
This translates into:
Deep Customer Empathy: Leadership actively engages with customer feedback and support.
Frugal Innovation: A constant focus on achieving more with less, evident from their early days and zero-spend marketing periods.
Unconventional Marketing: Leveraging SEO, content marketing, and early social media adoption for organic growth.
Unique Product Focus: Building specific solutions for train and bus travelers in India.
Vision: Travel for Bharat & Beyond 🇮🇳➡️🌏
Aloke Bajpai's vision remains centered on solving travel problems for the masses in India. He believes Ixigo is perhaps "only one percent done" in terms of the potential impact it can create. While an IPO has been discussed as a foreseeable milestone (plans were filed pre-COVID and might be revisited), the core drive is to build an enduring, customer-centric brand and legacy in the Indian travel landscape.
Beyond Ixigo, Aloke is also a seed investor in ventures like FreshBus, a modern electric inter-city bus service, reflecting his continued interest in the mobility sector.
With nearly two decades of entrepreneurial experience navigating the dynamic Indian market, Aloke Bajpai's journey with Ixigo offers invaluable lessons in perseverance, strategic pivoting, and building a business with purpose and a strong cultural core.
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