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Corporate travel at large organisations is often a complex process. Every trip involves a maze of approvals, policies, budgets, receipts, and reimbursements, each adding friction, delays, and unnecessary costs. In 2018, Sudheer Reddy Repala decided to simplify this system. He founded TripGain, an enterprise SaaS platform built to bring structure, automation, and clarity to the complex world of business travel and expense management. “We realised early on that enterprise travel was full of invisible friction. Manual bookings, slow approvals, and spreadsheet-based expenses created confusion and cost. We wanted to build a system that removed that friction through automation and integration,” says Sudheer Reddy, Founder and CEO of TripGain. Today, Bengaluru-based TripGain powers over 400 corporates and 800 SMEs, managing millions of travel transactions and achieving an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $3 million. How it started? The idea behind TripGain can be traced back to the early 2000s, when Reddy and Ranga Prasad Badasheshi, the co-founder of TripGain, were pursuing their Master’s in computer design at TripleT in Bengaluru. What started as a small academic project evolved into their first venture, Ine Solutions, a travel technology startup serving Travel Management Companies (TMCs) across India and six other countries. “We started with a small prototype during our post-graduation days. It wasn’t meant to be a business initially. But as we engaged with travel management companies, we realised the technology gap was enormous. There was no unified system that could handle travel operations at scale,” he recalls. Working with global players such as CWT, Mercury, and Unio, they noticed that while TMCs focused on ticketing and commissions, corporate clients were demanding automation, compliance, and visibility. That insight became the foundation for TripGain, which was launched in August 2018. TripGain initially targeted small and medium enterprises (SMEs) before it gained stronger traction among mid-to-large corporates whose monthly travel spends exceeded Rs 10 lakh. “We realised SMEs were still price-driven. But large enterprises wanted transparency, compliance, and integration, and that’s where we could truly add value,” says Reddy. The company was started with Rs 1 crore investment from personal savings of the founders. “We started purely on sweat capital from our earlier venture. We ran lean in the early years, reinvesting every rupee of revenue back into product development and integrations,” says Reddy. Automation and AI at the core TripGain automates every stage of the travel and expense lifecycle, from booking and approval to reconciliation and reporting. It acts as a vendor-agnostic marketplace, integrating flights, hotels, and transport services from hundreds of suppliers. When an employee initiates a travel request, TripGain’s AI engine evaluates traveller profiles, company policies, and live pricing to recommend compliant and cost-effective options. The “PNR hold pending approval” feature allows users to lock fares while internal approvals are processed, avoiding last-minute cost escalations. Its expense management module employs Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to extract data from receipts, detect duplicates, and automate GST/VAT reconciliation. Finance teams benefit from real-time dashboards, configurable approval workflows, and audit-ready reporting, ensuring accuracy and accountability across departments. “We wanted to build something that doesn’t just automate tasks but improves trust and accountability. Every expense, every booking, and every approval should have a clear audit trail. That’s the foundation of what we call travel intelligence,” he explains. TripGain has been investing in AI since 2017, starting with receipt transcription and expense automation across multiple languages. The platform is now developing an AI copilot, which is set to debut at Focus R, San Diego, in November 2025. The AI copilot learns organisational behaviour to automate configurations and cut travel manager training time from months to just days. Integration: The key to enterprise adoption TripGain’s biggest edge lies in its integration architecture. Through secure APIs and pre-built connectors, it integrates with HRMS (Human Resource Management Services) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems, including GreytHR, Odoo, SAP, and Oracle NetSuite. HRMS integration enables synchronisation of employee details such as department, hierarchy, and cost center, minimising manual uploads and administrative errors. ERP integrations link travel and expense data with accounting systems for invoice synchronisation, payment reconciliation, and journal posting, ensuring every transaction aligns with the right GL account and cost center. “Most enterprises already have their HRMS and ERP systems. We didn’t want them to change their stack for us. Our goal was to fit into their ecosystem effortlessly, not disrupt it,” notes Reddy. To date, TripGain has completed over 25 HRMS integrations and more than a dozen ERP integrations, while remaining compliant with industry standards. Building enterprise trust and scale Earning enterprise trust required patience and precision. Large organisations, governed by multiple departments such as HR, finance, IT, procurement, and compliance, were cautious about adopting new systems. “Our first few years were all about proving reliability. Enterprises wanted to see data security, uptime, SLA adherence, and audit readiness. Once we built that credibility with clients like Tata Technologies, the rest followed,” says Reddy. TripGain’s client onboarding cycle, which once took 90–120 days, has now been reduced to around 40 days through improved automation and dedicated deployment support. The startup maintains an average client lifetime of three years and a retention rate among the highest in its category. Today, TripGain serves clients such as Tata Group, Ozonetel, and Natural Remedies, and has also onboarded several SMEs, mostly through referrals and organic growth. Team, operations, and revenue model The startup has built its entire technology stack in-house, supported by a team of around 80 engineers focused on product development, integrations, and AI automation. The platform maintains over 160 direct travel integrations and more than 80 non-travel integrations, offering enterprises a flexible, scalable infrastructure. Its business model combines a per-trip management fee for travel operations with a Rs 100-per-user-per-month subscription for expense management. Unlike traditional TMCs, TripGain remains vendor-agnostic, allowing enterprises to retain control over their travel partners and pricing. TripGain’s Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) currently stands at $3 million, with projections to reach $10 million by FY26, reflecting a 300% year-on-year growth rate. The startup’s clients include about 90 large enterprises spending an average of Rs 50 lakh per month on travel. “We didn’t want to chase vanity metrics. Our approach has always been to scale sustainably, one integration, one satisfied enterprise at a time,” says Reddy. It is now planning to raise its strategic round from a distribution-focused partner. The startup competes with traditional TMCs like MakeMyTrip, Quest2Travel, FCM Travel, and Carlson Wagonlit, which primarily focus on their own inventory and profit optimisation. “Tripgain isn’t a TMC, we’re a vendor-agnostic platform allowing enterprises to use any travel supplier. We focus on automation, compliance, and enhancing employee experience, unlike competitors who prioritise travel or profit. This makes travel and expense management seamless, efficient, and fully integrated,” he explains. The next phase According to IMARC, India’s travel technology market, valued at $374.5 million in 2024, is expected to reach $745.6 million by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 7.32%. TripGain is now eyeing deeper AI-driven automation, global expansion, and direct integrations with international hotel chains. The startup plans to reach 1,000 enterprise clients and 1,000 SMEs by next year. “We’re at the intersection of automation, compliance, and human behaviour. The future of business travel isn’t just about cheaper bookings, it’s about smarter systems that anticipate user needs and make travel effortless,” says Reddy. With a growing customer base and an active AI roadmap, TripGain is now expanding its global footprint across eight international markets. (Edited by Megha Reddy)
