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Ixigo
BlueGreen Ventures

From Conviction to Compounding and Everything In Between

Every so often, a story reminds us why conviction, held steady through cycles, compounds into something far larger than the sum of its numbers. This month, that story is Ixigo.

Back in 2021, we had the privilege of being investment leads in Ixigo's pre-IPO round – built on a bold vision to make travel accessible for India’s “Next Billion Users” (NBU).

While many dismissed them as “just another OTA”, we saw a rising India from middle-income and lower-income consumers from smaller towns using trains and buses to commute to their hometowns and work, who would, at some time, grow into flights and hotels over time.

Building for them was a different kettle of fish: mastering a native language interface for less literate consumers not used to typing WhatsApp messages and those not born to desktops or grown up on laptops and smartphones. 

You get the picture: a very different consumer.

Aloke and Rajnish hailed from small towns themselves, just like us. We felt this market along with them and saw their passion for building this since 2007. The inflection point was palpably near as India touched a GDP growth of 7% on a consistent basis post-Covid.

In 2021, they filed but withdrew their IPO, and smartly so, for 2024, when their P&Ls were more ripe with profits to impress retail investors. 

In June 2024, Ixigo went public at ₹93 per share ($1.06), reaching a ₹3,600 crore ($409 Mn) market cap – a proud milestone for the entire ecosystem.

Fast forward to October 2025, and Ixigo has raised ₹1,296 crore ($147 Mn) at a ₹12,831 crore ($1.46 bn) valuation from Prosus: a 3.5× jump in under 12 months, translating into an IRR of 165% since listing.

While the numbers speak for themselves, the true story lies elsewhere, in what has not changed and what impressed us at that time as well:

  • Focus over Fads: Ixigo is built for India’s mass travellers; NBUs take trains, buses, and affordable flights infrequently. 
  • Profitability over Vanity: When others chased GMV and blitzscaling, they doubled down on sustainable margins and a balanced P&L post IPO. 
  • Culture over Chaos: A stable, frugal, founder-like team that stayed the course; a rare constant in India’s startup ecosystem. 
  • Foresight over Fashion: Early bets on digital adoption by this consumer cohort, like the 2021 acquisitions of AbhiBus and Confirmtkt, are now compounding beautifully. 
  • Transparency over Hype: Ixigo’s governance-first approach has made it a benchmark for how startups transition into listed companies.
At BlueGreen Ventures, this has taught us a few things:
  • We continue to understand India from our own operator-led backgrounds that have taken us into smaller towns and hone our intuition further by being here on the ground. 
  • The journey is long, and founders have to be assessed for resilience. Ixigo has been in the works since 2007.

As we celebrate Ixigo’s next milestone, we remain committed to discovering and scaling the next generation of founders who, like them, solve locally, scale globally, and build with integrity.

Congratulations again to the entire Ixigo team. Your performance today has delivered an IRR of 45% from 2021. 
The best chapters of this journey are still ahead.