Airblack raises $1.5mn from SAIF Partners

Chennai: Social travel commerce startup Airblack, a company that leverages social media to connect new-age travellers with a network of travel influencers, has raised $1.5 million in seed funds from SAIF Partners.

Airblack aims to utilise the funds to refine and launch their consumer product (currently in beta), ramp up the community of travellers and influencers, and expand core team. As a product combining the use of social commerce and travel tech, the startup has managed to close its seed funding just three months of launch. Founded by former venture capitalists Pulkit Pujara and Videt Jaiswal (both ex-VCs at SAIF Partners), Airblack is a marketplace for millennial travellers to connect with social media travel influencers to get recommendations and make informed decisions on their trips.

“We saw there is a strong social need in travellers here to talk to other travellers before taking purchase decisions, and an aversion to talk to travel agents because they are not relatable to this audience. We are focused on creating a strong trust layer in this category,” Videt Jaiswal, co-founder, Airblack, said. Airblack builds on the social behaviour of today’s travellers, who largely plan vacations based on recommendations and suggestions from friends and influencers on social media. The platform has already helped more than 1,000 travellers with their plans by connecting them to micro-influencers through WhatsApp and Instagram.

The investment is also a rare one for SAIF Partners, a firm that rarely takes bets at such an early-stage of a startup. The VC firm has earlier backed Paytm, MakeMyTrip, Meesho, ShareChat, Swiggy and others. Treebo and Travel Triangle are other travel startups part of SAIF’s portfolio.

“With increasing disposable income, spend on international travel will go up. And these users will look for social validation online before deciding on a high involvement purchase like travel", Mayank Khanduja, principal, SAIF Partners, said.


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