Noida based Paytm is now planning to acquire a stake in online travel portal Yatra, according to media reports.

Both the companies have already initiated talks but no details have been disclosed yet. The Alibaba backed payment company plans to boost its travel marketplace with this acquisition.

However when NextBigWhat contacted Paytm, it declined to comment and said it is only a speculation.

Paytm had forayed into the travel marketplace last year aiming to boost transaction rates.

Gurgaon based Yatra was founded in 2006 and has so far raised $125 million. The major investors in the company includes Norwest Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Vertex Ventures, IDG Ventures and Reliance Group.

If this this deal actually works out, it will clearly be an alarm for the other travel portals including MakeMyTrip Cleartrip, Goibibo and others who have gotten cosy in this space over the past few years.

Recent funding in travel space

In January, Makemytrip had raised $180mn from Ctrip, a travel service provider from China.

Ibibo Group also announced that Naspers and Tencent invested $250m in the group.

Read original article