Goomo strengthens omni-channel offering through acquisition of WagonBee

In a bid to expand its portfolio, Goomo, an omni-channel travel tech company announced the acquisition of WagonBee, a B2B vehicle rental marketplace on Monday.

Goomo will leverage this acquisition to facilitate greater ease and support for its travel partners, both online and offline, thereby driving increased customer satisfaction on its platform.

"Multi-day hiring of cars or larger vehicles is often done through the phone by travel agents and corporates, who have to spend a lot of time getting price quotes from multiple suppliers, confirming cab availability, and ensuring timely pickup. The acquisition of WagonBee will help Goomo add road transportation services to its list of offerings, and further drive the brand's promise of delivering end-to-end travel solutions to customers," said Varun Gupta, CEO, Goomo.

Founded by former NIT Trichy graduates Vikash Singh and Navneet Misra in 2016, WagonBee is a B2B car rental marketplace for travel agents and suppliers, enabling them to rent a vehicle of their choice from over 5,000 registered vehicles ranging from hatchbacks and sedans to luxury coaches and buses, provided by 350 verified vendors.

It has its presence in over 40 cities across India with nearly 8,000 itineraries and connections. The company allows travel agents and businesses to easily sign up on the rental marketplace through the web, app or email, just by providing some basic personal and company information.

Customers can then view competitive quotes, and avail the best pricing for their trip on the platform itself which serves as a single point through which information such as details of the vehicle, driver, booking confirmation can be accessed. In addition, customers get access to a 24x7 support helpline to address their queries or seek clarifications on booking details.

"The Indian car rental market is estimated to be around 15 to 18 billion USD and is expected to grow at 17 to 20 percent year-on-year. However, only about 10 percent of this market is organised and the rest is managed by several smaller operators. WagonBee and Goomo share a common vision of how this space can be organised better via apt solutions for our partner vendors as well as customized offerings to meet the evolving customer needs," said Navneet Misra co-founder, WagonBee.

Earlier, Goomo had acquired Zopky, a holiday marketplace start-up to build its presence in the holiday packages space. Over the last 12 months, the company has set up its online platform, created new products, acquired customers and established a robust partner network.

Goomo is also investing considerably in technology to streamline and automate the online booking process, provide white label solutions to its offline partners in order to give customers an easy and hassle-free experience.

In the B2C category, Goomo recently added the hotel booking feature to its platform to provide travellers with accommodation solutions from three lakh hotels. It also offers customers a wide choice of travel options and guaranteed availability for flights and accommodation to popular trade fairs across the world.

-ANI