Cleartrip’s Middle East Business Sold to Wego by Flipkart & Shark Tank India Sets New Record Investments

Wego, the largest online travel marketplace in North Africa and the Middle East, will take over Cleartrip’s business in that region. Both companies have their headquarters in Dubai Internet City, UAE, which makes this take over much easier. 

Cleartrip was founded in 2006 by Hrush Bhatt, Matthew Spacie and Stuart Crighton, but Flipkart acquired it in April 2021 as a part of a distress sale. This happened because Cleartrip fell into struggles when they were overloaded with demanding consumers during the pandemic and their competitors, such as Makemytrip and Easemytrip, were merging with other businesses to expand their capital and portfolio. 

Now, Flipkart reached an agreement with Wego to allow Wego to buy Flyin.com, a travel company based in Saudi Arabia that Cleartrip acquired in 2018. Aside from this transaction, Flipkart and Wego will share technology, allowing both companies to expand their market and knowledge. 

This transaction will close in the second half of 2022, after which Flipkart’s Cleartrip will only operate in the Indian market. This allows much more focus by national companies on the functioning of their service in their country’s market only, which might lead to better quality services and faster growth for the company as a whole. 


Shark Tank India Sets New Record Investments
A record 68 investments were made in Season 1 of Shark Tank India, out of a total of 198 pitches. The below table shows the surprising statistics that leads many to believe the entrepreneur era is just starting in India. 

Statistics of Pitches 
Founders with no IIT/IIM degrees - 87%

Founder <25 years - 67%

Not funded previously - 60%

Woman founder - 43%

Family as co-founders - 27%

This data shows how no professional qualifications are required to have a successful start-up, youth founders are quite successful, and first-time entrepreneurs are gaining adequate funds. Each of these data values are records themselves, which are expected to be broken in the coming years. 

With this growth in business deals and transactions, the future for entrepreneurs in India looks bright, which will help the economy grow out of any remaining effects of the pandemic. Unemployment rates might fall with new jobs being created and entrepreneurship being relatively open to anyone of any socioeconomic background. 


Written and collated by Neel Mehta
Written with input from The Economic Times, Business Today, and Mint.