Le Travenues Technology Ltd, the owner of the travel booking website ixigo, is set to open its IPO for subscription from Monday, June 10 to Wednesday, June 12. On Friday, ixigo announced that it had secured ₹333 crore from anchor investors ahead of its public share offering.

The company has offered 3.58 crore equity shares to 23 funds at ₹93 each, totaling ₹333 crore. The IPO price band is set between ₹88 and ₹93 per share. ixigo is a tech firm that assists Indian travelers in planning, scheduling, and managing journeys by train, air, bus, and hotel bookings. As a leading Online Travel Agency (OTA) catering to the ‘next billion customers,’ ixigo focuses on localized content and features for tier II and tier III travelers. They leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science on their OTA platforms, which include websites and mobile apps, to help travelers make informed decisions.

On Friday, ixigo announced that its existing shareholders had sold equity worth just over ₹176 crore in a pre-IPO deal. According to a PTI report, shares were purchased by Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust Plc, Tata Multi Asset Opportunities Fund, Tata Digital India Fund, Bay Capital Holdings, Steadview Capital Mauritius, and ixigo co-founders Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar.

The company has allocated 75% of the issue size to qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), 15% to non-institutional investors, and 10% to retail investors. Investors can place bids for a minimum of 161 shares and in multiples thereof.

Today’s grey market premium (GMP) for the ixigo IPO is +25, indicating that ixigo shares are trading at a ₹25 premium in the grey market, according to investorgain.com. With the IPO price band capped at ₹93 per share, this suggests an estimated listing price of ₹118 per share, which is 26.88% higher than the IPO price. Over the past four sessions, the GMP has shown an upward trend, indicating a positive listing. The GMP has ranged from ₹0 to ₹28, as per investorgain.com analysts. The ‘grey market premium’ reflects investors’ willingness to pay above the issue price.

The Gurugram-based ixigo IPO consists of a new issue of equity shares worth ₹120 crore and an Offer For Sale (OFS) of 6.66 crore equity shares valued at ₹620 crore by existing shareholders, at the top end of the price band. This totals a public offering of ₹740 crore.

From the fresh issue, ₹45 crore will be allocated to funding the company’s working capital needs, and ₹26 crore will be invested in technology and data science, including cloud and server hosting, artificial intelligence, and customer engagement. Additionally, the funds will support inorganic expansion through acquisitions and general business purposes.

Axis Capital Limited, Dam Capital Advisors Ltd (formerly IDFC Securities Ltd), and JM Financial Limited are the book-running lead managers for the ixigo IPO, with Link Intime India Private Ltd serving as the registrar.

For the nine months ending December 2023, ixigo’s revenue from operations increased by 31% year-on-year to ₹497 crore, while net profit rose tenfold to ₹65.7 crore.