During the lockdown in the country, several flight tickets were cancelled by default by airline operators, but these refunds also ended up in the semi-closed wallets owned by travel agents’ OTAs.

Kumar said both refunds and payment settlements for successful bookings are credited into the travel agent’s or the OTA’s account typically after every 20 days. Mystifly’s product helps shorten the payment settlement cycle to within 24 hours.

‘We work with a combination of small and large airlines globally and we also wholesale supply networks who provide us with airfare inventory in bulk. But today as we grow, we are partnering directly with airline operators instead, and enabling a far higher retailing capability for airline brands with our tools, when compared to their existing capability,’ Kumar said.

The fresh investment will help Mystifly strengthen its product and technology, data science & machine learning capabilities and address airline payments inefficiency.

Kumar said Mystifly reported profits in the last fiscal, and that the startup initially didn’t raise any external funds in the first six years of operations. Mystifly’s previous fundraise was reported in 2016 when it had raised $5 million from Recruit Holdings group.

Read EquityPandit’s Nifty Outlook for the Week