MakeMyTrip is an Indian online travel company headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, listed on Nasdaq (MMYT), that sells flights, hotels, holiday packages, rail, bus and other travel services, and owns Goibibo and redBus.

This Startup Deep Dive explains what MakeMyTrip does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.

MakeMyTrip in Brief

• What it is: MakeMyTrip is an Indian Online travel company based in Gurgaon.
• Who it serves: businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers.
• Sells air tickets, hotels and homestays, holiday packages, rail, intercity bus and car hire
• Offers add-ons such as travel insurance and visa processing
• Owns Goibibo and redBus; fintech arm TripMoney offers forex and insurance
• Funding: Reports differ: one tracker lists about $3.85 billion across 7 rounds, another far less; figures are not reconcilable.

MakeMyTrip Quick Facts

Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.

What Is MakeMyTrip?

MakeMyTrip operates in the Online travel space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to MakeMyTrip.

• Sells air tickets, hotels and homestays, holiday packages, rail, intercity bus and car hire
• Offers add-ons such as travel insurance and visa processing
• Owns Goibibo and redBus; fintech arm TripMoney offers forex and insurance
• Runs myPartner for travel agents and Quest2Travel for corporate travel
• Lists over 95,000 accommodations in more than 2,000 locations in India per one report

The Origin Story of MakeMyTrip

Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.

• Founders: Deep Kalra.
• Founded in 2000 by Deep Kalra, an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus formerly at GE Capital, to serve Indian diaspora travellers on US-India routes
• Started Indian operations in 2005 with online airline ticketing
• Other co-founders named in profiles include Rajesh Magow, Keyur Joshi and Sachin Bhatia
• Rajesh Magow is now co-founder and Group CEO; Kalra is chairman

Key Milestones and Challenges

No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the Online travel sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.

• 2000: Founded by Deep Kalra
• 2005: Begins operations in India with online air ticketing
• 2010: Lists on Nasdaq on 17 September; IPO raised about $80.5 million at about $478 million valuation
• 2011: Acquires Luxury Tours and Travel (Singapore), ITC Group's travel business and ETB Group
• 2016: Ctrip agrees to invest $180 million; merger with Ibibo Group (Goibibo, redBus) via stock swap, Naspers becomes largest shareholder
• 2019: Ctrip raises stake to 49%; acquires Quest2Travel
• 2024: Agrees to acquire Happay from CRED
• 2025: Repurchases over 34 million Class B shares from Trip.com Group, cutting its stake from 45.34% to 16.90%

MakeMyTrip Funding and Investors

Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.

• April 2005: Series A of $10 million, Elevation Capital (per one tracker)
• December 2006: Series B of $13 million, Elevation Capital (per one tracker)
• October 2007: Series C of $15 million; lead reported as Elevation or SAIF Partners (reports differ)
• August/September 2010: Nasdaq IPO, about $80.5 million
• January 2016: Ctrip investment of $180 million
• May 2017: Placement of about $330 million in total gross proceeds including Ctrip and MIH, shares priced at $36
• February 2021: $200 million debt financing (per one tracker)

How Does MakeMyTrip Make Money? (Business Model)

A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.

• Commissions on air, hotel, bus and package bookings
• Hotels and packages are the largest revenue segment; hotels earn higher margins than air
• Customer inducement costs are booked as a reduction of revenue
• Fintech and corporate travel add ancillary revenue
• One report puts domestic flight OTA share at 24 percent; another gives 55.3 percent in 2023-24 for the Indian OTA landscape (reports differ)

The Numbers: MakeMyTrip Financials

Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.

• FY25 (year to March 2025): revenue about US$978 million, up 27.4%; gross bookings $9.8 billion, up about 25.9%; adjusted operating profit $167.3 million; adjusted net profit $178.2 million
• Q4 FY25: revenue $245.46 million vs $202.9 million; profit $29.22 million vs $171.93 million (Q4 FY24 included one-time gains of about $126.1 million deferred tax and $30.6 million convertible notes)
• Q2 FY26: net loss of $5.7 million, attributed to accounting effects of a $3.1 billion capital restructuring
• Q4 FY25 segment revenue: air $61.63 million, hotels and packages $123.28 million, bus $33.5 million, other $27.06 million

Market Opportunity for MakeMyTrip

Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are rising digital adoption, cloud and mobile penetration, growing enterprise technology spending, government digitisation programmes and a deep pool of engineering talent. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.

• Leader among Indian online travel agencies, with rising hotel and homestay focus
• Faces share competition from ixigo, Booking.com and Airbnb in accommodation

Technology and Product at MakeMyTrip

Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are product quality, data and integration depth, security, scalability and the speed of shipping improvements.

• Began integrating generative AI features in 2023
• Mobile apps and RoutePlanner tools launched from 2012

Team and Culture at MakeMyTrip

Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.

• Deep Kalra, founder and chairman
• Rajesh Magow, co-founder and Group CEO
• Sanjay Mohan, Group CTO; Mohit Kabra, Group COO

MakeMyTrip Competitors: Competitive Landscape

A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.

Risks and Challenges for MakeMyTrip

• In March 2026 a short seller alleged indirect control of hotel prices, circumventing a 2022 CCI ruling and a Rs 223 crore fine; presented as allegations
• Thin air-ticket margins and dependence on hotel growth
• Competition from ixigo, Booking.com and Airbnb, and direct bookings
• Reported profit swings from one-time accounting items
• Competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth.
• Funding risk: technology businesses often burn cash before reaching profit and depend on investor appetite.

Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

MakeMyTrip Growth Outlook: What to Watch

• Pivot to hotels and homestays for higher margins
• Continued AI integration and ancillary fintech growth
• Key indicators: recurring revenue, customer retention, gross margin, customer acquisition cost and runway.
• Funding position: Whether MakeMyTrip can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
• Regulation: Changes from data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Industry Context: Where MakeMyTrip Fits

India's technology startup ecosystem is one of the largest in the world, supported by cheap data, a large base of smartphone users, digital public infrastructure and a deep engineering talent pool. Companies now build for education, software, mobility, logistics, agriculture, defence, media and more, selling both to Indian customers and abroad.

Durable technology companies usually combine a clear customer problem with repeatable distribution and disciplined unit economics. Growth funded only by spending tends to fade, while products that customers keep using and paying for build compounding advantages.

For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.

Bull Case and Bear Case for MakeMyTrip

An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for MakeMyTrip.

Bull case

• A large and growing base of digital users and businesses expands the addressable market.
• Recurring revenue and strong retention can compound growth.
• Selling into global markets widens the opportunity beyond India.

Bear case

• Heavy competition can compress pricing and margins.
• Dependence on external funding can force painful cost cuts.
• Regulation or platform changes can disrupt a product quickly.

Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from MakeMyTrip

Studying a company in the Online travel space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about MakeMyTrip.

• Solving a clear, frequent customer problem matters more than adding features.
• Retention and repeat usage are better health signals than sign-ups.
• Disciplined spending extends runway and keeps options open when funding tightens.
• Distribution, not just product quality, decides who wins in crowded markets.
• Building trust through data protection and reliability is part of the product.

How to Evaluate MakeMyTrip as a Startup

• Customer clarity: Can MakeMyTrip name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
• Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
• Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
• Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
• Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
• Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
• Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
• Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.

The Takeaway

MakeMyTrip is part of India’s growing Online travel ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.

• Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
• Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
• Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.

MakeMyTrip FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is MakeMyTrip?

MakeMyTrip is an Indian online travel company headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, listed on Nasdaq (MMYT), that sells flights, hotels, holiday packages, rail, bus and other travel services, and owns Goibibo and redBus. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded MakeMyTrip?

MakeMyTrip was founded by Deep Kalra, and the company reports a founding year of 2000.

How much funding has MakeMyTrip raised?

Reports differ: one tracker lists about $3.85 billion across 7 rounds, another far less; figures are not reconcilable. Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does MakeMyTrip make money?

MakeMyTrip earns revenue from its Online travel products and services sold to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.

Who are the competitors of MakeMyTrip?

Reported rivals include EaseMyTrip, Cleartrip, Yatra, ixigo. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for MakeMyTrip?

Main risks include competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules. This is educational content, not investment advice.

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Source

Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.