Adani Enterprises, the conglomerate led by billionaire Gautam Adani, has announced its plans to acquire railway ticketing startup Trainman. The company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Adani Digital Labs Private Ltd, signed a share purchase agreement to acquire a 100% stake in Trainman, also known as Stark Enterprises, according to a regulatory filing.
While the financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, Trainman was previously valued at INR 80 crore. The online train booking and information platform, founded in 2016 by Vineet Chirania and Karan Kumar, has garnered investments from notable names like Goodwater Capital and Ivy Growth Associates. It competes directly with Confirmtkt, which was acquired by ixigo in 2021.
This acquisition aligns with Adani Group’s strategy to bolster its presence in the ticketing industry. Over the past two years, the conglomerate has undertaken several acquisitions across different sectors to strengthen its travel arm. In December 2022, Adani launched Adani One, a flight ticket and cab booking platform. Additionally, it acquired a minority stake, reportedly 20%, in Flipkart-owned online travel aggregator ClearTrip in October 2021.
Speculations have also emerged about Adani Group’s potential investment in a fleet of passenger vehicles to be listed on the ride-hailing platform Uber. With various elements at play, the conglomerate might be considering the development of a superapp dedicated to travelers, leveraging its existing resources in airport operations to gain a significant foothold in the Indian travel space.
Trainman, however, faced financial challenges in the past fiscal year. The company reported losses exceeding INR 1.2 crore in FY22, a sixfold increase from the previous year. On the revenue front, Trainman saw a doubling of its revenue to INR 2.5 crore during FY22.
This acquisition comes amid a funding crunch in the startup ecosystem, with many companies struggling to secure funding. The trend of mergers and acquisitions has been on the rise, with 240 M&A deals occurring last year. Recently, VLCC acquired Ustraa, and fintech startup CredFlow acquired Y Combinator-backed business management startup TechBiz.
As the funding situation worsens, the future of the Indian startup ecosystem remains uncertain. In the meantime, Adani Group seems poised to disrupt the travel space with Trainman as its ally.
