Pickyourtrail raises $3 million in Series-A fund mop-up

Pickyourtrail, a city-based travel technology start-up, has announced that it has received about $3 million (₹21 crore approximately) as Series-A funding.

The funding will be used for continued product innovation, scaling up the proprietary technology platform, expansion of its technical team and for creation of brand awareness, said the company.

Founded in 2014 by Hari Ganapathy and Srinath Shankar, pickyourtrail’s self-service platform enables travellers to curate every aspect of their international holiday package. The self-service platform is powered by a proprietary comfort score algorithm, which captures over 40 factors such as duration, travel timing, ratings and feedback given by previous travellers.

“People are slowly getting comfortable booking vacations online, and we believe we have a real shot at changing the way people plan and book vacations over the next few years,” said Hari Ganapathy.

“Personalisation is the mantra that has been around for sometime in the travel industry. I believe that our algorithms across personalisation, routing and price matching are industry-first in their approach,” said Srinath Shankar.

Growth plans

As part of its expansion, the company is planning to increase its workforce from the current strength of around 85 employees. “By the end of 2019, we will have about 180-200 employees, and there will be a lot of focus on recruitment in areas such as technology and analytics, branding and sales operations,” Shankar said.

“The size of people travelling from India is growing exponentially, and we see a huge opportunity because the runway to growth and scalability in this business are exceptional,” said Shyam Sekhar, Ideator and Founder, iThought and one of the co-investors.