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Yatra.com receives Rs 2 bn funding
MUMBAI: The Gurgaon-headquartered online travel company Yatra Online (Yatra.com) has received a funding of Rs 2 billion from blue chip investors including Valiant Capital Management, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and Intel Capital.
The company said that this new investment will help accelerate its growth plans by enabling it to increase sales and marketing activities, expand its hotels and holidays business and selectively pursue strategic acquisitions.
“Yatra.com has witnessed exponential growth over the last four years making it one of the leading brands and household names in India. This round of funding will enable us to broaden our reach and brand awareness in tier two and tier three towns, which are experiencing tremendous growth in e- commerce. In addition, we will use the funds to accelerate our expansion in the hotels and holidays segments,” said Yatra CEO Dhruv Shringi. “Garnering continued support and faith from such reputed investors gives us immense confidence in our business and is a testament to our execution capabilities and strong value proposition in India.”
Already, Yatra.com is backed by investors including Promod Haque’s Silicon Valley-based Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s Reliance Capital, Raghav Bahl-promoted Network 18, Intel Capital, the strategic investment arm of Intel, and Valiant Capital Management.
“When we made a seed investment in Yatra.com in 2006, the online travel market in India was still at a nascent stage, but there was a tremendous need for innovation in this sector. We were confident that Yatra.com was at the forefront of the changing face of travel in India and the company was poised for tremendous growth,” said Norwest Venture Partners managing partner and Yatra chairman and board member Promod Haque.
“Over the past few years, we have seen Yatra management continue to execute well. The team has been able to identify, negotiate and successfully integrate strategic acquisitions. The team is focused on building compelling value propositions for customers which has resulted in a strong affinity for the Yatra brand.” said Intel Capital Asia Pacific MD Sudheer Kuppam. “We believe travel will continue to be the dominant ecommerce segment and leads growth of online transactions in the tier 2 and 3 cities in India. This investment is aligned with Intel’s strategic objective of increasing broadband penetration in India through fostering entrepreneurship in compelling content and ecommerce opportunities.”
Yatra.com provides reservation facility for over 3,800 hotels across 336 cities in India and over 90,000 hotels around the world.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
