Busbud Acquires Clickbus Turkey

BUSBUD, MONTRÉAL (NOV 14, 2018)

Global intercity bus marketplace Busbud acquires leading Turkish bus website Neredennereye.com

Busbud Inc., the largest online global marketplace for booking city-to-city bus tickets in the world, just announced its acquisition of Clickbus Turkey, owner and operator of Neredennereye.com, a leading Turkish bus booking website headquartered in Istanbul. In addition to enhancing Busbud’s route coverage in Turkey, the acquisition will also increase its position and market share in the fast-growing Turkish intercity bus market, the 7th largest in the world with over 225M passenger tickets sold in 2017.

Founded in 1999 as an online travel directory, Neredennereye.com has grown to become a local leader, covering 30,000 routes offered by 180+ bus operators in Turkey, including Metro Travel, Ulusoy Travel, Kontur, Efe Tur, Balıkesir Uludağ and many more. It also offers flight booking for airlines such as Turkish Airlines, Atlas Global and AnadoluJet. The company will become a part of Busbud and continue to operate from its Istanbul office, keeping its focus on the Turkish market.

“Erol and his team at Neredennereye.com have had a remarkable growth story in Turkey. We are excited to welcome them onboard. There is a lot to learn from how they have achieved a dominant position in this large and dynamic market. These insights and go-to-market strategies will inform our continued rollout in the 80+ countries we currently serve. Erol is a seasoned leader, having spent 20+ years in e-commerce sector, and we are thrilled to have him leading our efforts for Turkey.” “Becoming a part of Busbud, a leading player in the intercity bus booking market worldwide, gives us an opportunity to benefit from a global platform and additional resources, which will help us to provide an even more impactful experiences to our customers. Busbud has demonstrated engineering excellence, notably by delivering its robust API and marketplace, and has a solid reputation of working hand-in-hand with bus operators worldwide to satisfy millions of customers. We are thrilled to be part of that journey. This is a unique opportunity for us to expand beyond Turkey and contribute to Busbud’s future growth. We can’t wait to get started!” says Erol Demirtas, CEO & founder of Neredennereye.com. Neredennereye.com has 10 employees and is based in Istanbul. It had raised EUR 1.25M in August 2015 as part of a merger with Clickbus Turkey. Past investors include Asia Pacific Internet Group (APACIG), powered by Rocket Internet and Ooredoo, as well as Germany-based Holtzbrinck Ventures and Tengelmann Ventures.

“Becoming a part of Busbud, a leading player in the intercity bus booking market worldwide, gives us an opportunity to benefit from a global platform and additional resources, which will help us to provide an even more impactful experiences to our customers. Busbud has demonstrated engineering excellence, notably by delivering its robust API and marketplace, and has a solid reputation of working hand-in-hand with bus operators worldwide to satisfy millions of customers. We are thrilled to be part of that journey. This is a unique opportunity for us to expand beyond Turkey and contribute to Busbud’s future growth. We can’t wait to get started!” says Erol Demirtas, CEO & founder of Neredennereye.com.

Neredennereye.com has 10 employees and is based in Istanbul. It had raised EUR 1.25M in August 2015 as part of a merger with Clickbus Turkey. Past investors include Asia Pacific Internet Group (APACIG), powered by Rocket Internet and Ooredoo, as well as Germany-based Holtzbrinck Ventures and Tengelmann Ventures.

About Clickbus Turkey & Neredennereye.com

The company’s smart booking engine, Neredennereye.com, allows its customers to find, compare and purchase bus tickets at most affordable prices from more than 30,000 bus routes, offered by 180+ companies in Turkey. The Company was initially founded as a travel directory in 1999 but evolved into an online travel agency before merging with Clickbus Turkey in 2015

About Busbud

Busbud is the best way to book intercity bus tickets. The market for intercity bus tickets is >10B passengers per year. By connecting travellers to bus operators, Busbud makes searching, comparing and booking intercity bus tickets a seamless experience, everywhere in the world. Busbud.com and its free mobile apps are the most comprehensive source of intercity bus schedules and tickets in the world, displaying millions of departures weekly and schedules for 3900 bus operators covering 20K cities and 2.3M routes in over 80 countries. Busbud raised a $14M Series B in January 2018 led by Innovia. Busbud has 60 employees and is based in Montreal, Canada.

Source:

https://busbud-pubweb-assets.global.ssl.fastly.net/pdfs/638e408.Busbud_acquires_Clickbus_Turkey.pdf