By Alan Hatfield
Business-to-business travel technology marketplace Mondee Inc. and special purpose acquisition company ITHAX Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: ITHX) have announced an upsized $70 million PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity) ahead of the companies’ business combination announced last December.
Two leading financial investors, Elliott Management and Siris Capital, have agreed to subscribe for the additional $20 million all-equity PIPE at $10 per share, increasing the proceeds to the combined company from $50 million to $70 million. The transaction currently values the digital travel platform owner at just north of $1 billion.
“We are excited to welcome additional value-savvy and renowned financial investors to our shareholder base,” Prasad Gundumogula, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mondee, said in a statement. “The financial community’s investment further validates the potential of our company to transform the travel market with our powerful operating platform, modern ecosystem, and segment-specific content for the growing gig economy, remote workers and discerning travelers.”
Mondee Holdings, which joined an IPO Edge Fireside Chat earlier this year, is a group of leading travel technology, service, and content companies driving disruptive innovative change in the leisure, corporate, and retail travel markets. They deliver a revolutionary technology platform of SaaS, mobile, and cloud products and services to a global customer base, processing over 50 million daily searches in 2019 and multi-billion dollars of transactional volume yearly.
In another statement, Orestes Fintiklis, Chief Executive Officer of ITHAX, added, “Generating significant additional investment in our transaction in an all-equity PIPE at $10 during such a challenging environment for SPAC and PIPE transactions underlines the strength of Mondee as a compelling traveltech investment. Mondee is a proven performer in the traveltech space with, we believe, a great runway to grow both organically and through mergers and acquisitions to further seize market share.”
