3 Year Old Startup ‘JetSetGo’ Set to Acquire 17 Year Old Company
Kanika Tekriwal, the cofounder CEO, and Team JetSetGo works 20 hours a day - and it’s paying off. “Financially we have done incredibly well. Business has seen a 700 percent growth in revenue, 1370 percent growth in EBITDA by the way and we are now net profitable.” She also shared at BW Disrupt Dialogue her plans to acquire and expand. “We will be acquiring a 17 year old company, and JetSetGo is only 3 years old. It’s quite unheard of in the startup community.” Details of the agreement have not been disclosed as yet.
Putting aside rising tensions due to Chinese goods and services flooding the economy, BW Businessworld asked Kanika how she feels things will be for Indian startups if Indian and Chinese VCs do collaborate.
Kanika said, “I think it’s an excellent opportunity and a great thing for the country. For the simple reason that China has always been a market that we perceive as difficult to get into. But if you have Chinese investors backing you, then your entry into the Chinese market becomes much simpler. I feel that the Chinese and Indian markets have many of the similar problems, so even customizing Indian made products for the Chinese market is perfectly possible.”
Kanika also feels strengthening Indo-Sino relations can help JetSetGo. “China has just opened up its private aviation market. China has more billionaires than the US and a wealth report says there are 1,034,000 millionaires in China. It’s going to give JetSetGo whose fees start at round 20,000 dollars an hour, the opportunity to cater to the millionaires and billionaires of China that want to charter private jets and helicopters. “Earlier it was a very regulated market, and private jets couldn’t just enter Chinese air space; now there’s a lot more flexibility in the rules. I think JetSetGo will soon explore China as a market and having Chinese investors back you would be a phenomenal fillip to any enterprise.”
Speaking of catering to the rich and their high flung demands Kanika shared, “Very frequently you will hear us in the office say, ‘We make the impossible, possible. My God, I have done this too?!’ Every day sets precedence for a new normal for us. Things we perceive that we could not do that no one has ever done in India, we have done.
We have had clients ask for a particular kind of bed sheet not available in India, we made that happen in record time. The most exotic kinds of food from miles away we have made happen in 30 minutes. It’s a very, very challenging role to be in the service industry when you’re catering to the most discerning and demanding set of clients out there. You have to give it 250 percent, because you must deliver an experience beyond their experience. It’s challenging, but that’s what makes us JetSetGo.”
