Online travel agent MakeMyTrip had acquired a minority stake in Bangalore-based digital hotel marketing solutions company Simplotel on December 15,2014 for an undisclosed amount as a part of Innovation Fund investments, the company revealed as part of its Q3 FY15 earnings release (pdf). The company also informed that they have committed to make a further investment in Simplotel by June 2015, which would increase its stake to 25%. MakeMyTrip had set up a $15 million Innovation Fund for investing in early-stage companies in the travel technology space, with a special focus on mobile and IP-based companies, and to explore M&A opportunities, in September last year. The company had said that it will invest up to $3 million in such companies. Given that the Hotels & Packages business has been driving MakeMyTrip's revenue growth for the past few quarters, and had even overtaken Air ticketing revenues for the company in Q1-FY15, this acquisition comes at the right time for MakeMyTrip. Founded in August 2013 by Tarun Goyal and Savan Bellur, Simplotel is a SaaS-based platform that offers hotels solutions like content management, web design, hotel booking engines, and search engine optimization among others. Simplotel offers its clients flexible payment options, including performance-based payments and subscription plans. Some of its hospitality clients in India include The Grand, New Delhi, Aloha On The Ganges, North 16 Goa Resort, Justa Hotels & Resorts, and The Orchid Ecotel among others. Goyal told The Times of India that the funds will be used to double Simplotel's team size to 30…
