India's largest online travel company MakeMyTrip has agreed to acquire the expense management platform Happay from Cred.
MakeMyTrip has signed a business transfer agreement to acquire Happay from Cred, the Nasdaq-listed company said in its statement without disclosing the financial details of the deal.
Under the agreement, Happay brand, its expense management business, and its team will transition to MakeMyTrip.
While the Kunal Shah-led fintech firm Cred will retain Happay’s payments business and team, which focused on developing the B2B payments technology stack -- that recently launched solutions on Bharat Connect with NPCI.
“Our focus at CRED is on developing products that enable financial progress. I’m excited about the payments team’s opportunity to transform the B2B payments experience into one that’s frictionless, reliable and one that’s set for rapid growth," Cred founder Kunal Shah said.
The acquisition is aimed at bolstering MakeMyTrip’s corporate travel offerings, which already serve 59,000 small and medium-sized businesses through its MyBiz platform and 450 large enterprises via Quest2Travel.
“The acquisition of Happay’s brand and expense management platform is a natural next step in our strategy to lead this space (corporate travel sector). By integrating Happay’s expertise, which spans over 900 corporate clients, MakeMyTrip is set to redefine the benchmarks once again in corporate travel and expense management in India," said Rajesh Magow, co-founder and group CEO, MakeMyTrip.
The transaction is expected to close within the next 90 days, subject to closing conditions, MakeMyTrip stated.
In December 2021, Cred acquired Happay in a $180 million deal. Following this acquisition, the Bengaluru-based fintech brought on board several executives from companies like Zeta, which was considered one of Happay's closest competitors. Among these was Zeta's top executive, Murali Nair, who joined Cred but later departed earlier this year to take up the role of General Manager for India and South Asia at payments company Fiserv.
