Tickets Aim for Additional Fresh Funds, Ready to Make Profits in 2021

The OTA Tiket platform revealed that it is seeking fresh funds for business expansion needs. The company also targets to immediately make a profit in the next two years because it is claimed to have revenue streams clear.

Tiket CEO George Hendrata was reluctant to say how much funding was required. The fresh funds will be used for the company's business expansion. The company is actively opening new offices both in Indonesia and abroad.

"Now revenue line (business) is clear and getting bigger (OTA potential). Our growth per year is always above 100%, if it is above that we open ourselves again to fundraising to strategic investors so that Tiket can be even more stable in the future," he said yesterday (16/1).

After Tickets acquired full by Blibli, in mid-July 2017, the company did not do any external fundraising. Previously, since it was built in 2011, Tiket is a startup that has never sought further funding from investors. Initial funding was obtained from angel investors worth $1 million.

According to George, fundraising is a necessity for startups that want to grow quickly, supported by capital that is always available. Pros in the world of OTA, this is the oldest industry compared to e-commerce and ride sharing, so the penetration is higher.

Take for example, he continued, in developed countries OTA penetration reaches 60%-70%, while in China it is already 50%. Indonesia itself has 30%. This number has the potential to continue to increase in the future, considering that traveling has become part of the necessities of life.

"OTAs abroad (overseas) are already profitable because they have revenue streams clear, need traveling also big, that's why size The business in this market is huge. We want to be aggressive. This ticket is good at cages, if you want it to be big and enter a new location, we need it businesses strong in their respective areas."

Moreover, companies with unicorn status usually have more than one investor. This has the advantage, there is added value in the development of the company's business. In a sense, the capacity becomes larger, Corporate Governance better, and easier when recruiting new talent.

He said that currently Tiket was starting to aggressively look for new talents both at home and abroad. The initial office expansion started early last year by opening an office in Vancouver, Canada as an R&D. This location choice is strategically close to Silicon Valley, harboring the potential for good engineering talent.

"There are many Indonesian talents who have careers outside, we are trying to get closer to them computer science and engineers are more advanced, we need talent like them."

Besides Canada, Tiket has offices in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand as marketing offices. Domestically, Tiket has added office locations in Jakarta (three offices), Bali, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Bandung, Medan, and Makassar.

The location of the Ticket office at Grha Niaga Thamrin (Jakarta), Bandung, and Yogyakarta is a place for domestic R&D. The total employee of Tiket is more than 1.300 people, an increase from the end of 2018 of 800 people.

"The ticket office in Singapore actually has entity since March 2019 using the name Global Tiket Network Ltd.,, but officeit was just inaugurated yesterday. All of our overseas offices use a clear entity, following the rules that apply there," added Chief People Officer Dudi Arisandi.

According to Dudi, the selection of the ticket office location reflects the high number of tourist destinations visited. Companies also need to be closer to consumers when there are complaints, as well as facilitate relations with hotel partners for additional room inventory supplies.

Ready for profitability

George claims the company in two more years will be on its way to profitability, following in the footsteps of other global OTA players. He also started considering an IPO when the target was achievable.

OTA companies, according to him, have revenue streams clear. There is a commission earned from partners when successfully selling hotel rooms or flight tickets. Revenue take rate on OTA in the range of 5%-25% depending on the product that is successfully sold. This figure is much higher than the average e-commerce company take rateits 1%-2%.

"Then the competition between OTA players is still natural. Not too 'crazy' like ride sharing. So pathThis is already good and the industry is much healthier. if we, pathIt's already heading for profit, in two years it should be done."

Considerations for taking the floor on the stock exchange also arise when the company is already profitable. George said the IPO was a necessary step if the company wanted to expand in other countries. Because the company will have governance which is better, exposure to investors is also much greater.

Without mentioning details, Tiket recorded a business growth of more than 150% in 2019 compared to 2018. The highest increase came from flight ticket bookings. The most visited destinations are Surabaya, Makassar, Medan, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Hong Kong.

Some of the features developed by the company include Hotel Now, Smart Trip, Pay at Hotel, Smart Refund, Smart Rechedule, Online Check-in, Group Booking, and Anti-Anxiety Tickets. The company provides Airport Transfer and Airport Lounge facilities at 10 major airports in Indonesia.

In the near future, the Ticket application will be personalized according to user habits with machine learning and AI. "Without being told [the application] can better understand where we are going, there are recommendations for destinations that have been personalized," concluded George.