ParaBooking, an online paragliding booking portal from FlutterBuy Ecom Ventures, has announced that it has raised seed funding of INR 50 lakh under the Him Startup Yojna of the Department of Industries, Himachal Pradesh. This is the first time a tech startup based in Himachal Pradesh has developed sophisticated SaaS-based tools that can be scaled nationwide to bring safety and regulations to the adventure sports sector.
The startup has undergone incubation at IIT Mandi Catalyst in Himachal Pradesh and received world-class mentoring to develop its technology and business model. ParaBooking operates through a two-pronged model for generating revenues: adventure sport (paragliding) and SaaS tools for adventure tourism operators/agencies nationwide.
With an 8-member team, ParaBooking is looking to use the funds to expand its technology and enter the market.
ParaBooking.com, founded in 2021 by Ankush Rana, Deepak Abrol, Sohail Lalani, and Vikram Thakur, enables customers to book paragliding flights in some of India’s most popular destinations, including Bir-Billing, Dharamshala, and Manali. Bringing safety and standards to India’s adventure tourism industry is one of the key goals of ParaBooking. In addition to a website for paragliding flight reservations, ParaBooking also provides a SaaS-based application enabling tourism operators to digitize and automate their operations.
ParaBooking has facilitated over 5,000 flights around India in its first 18 months of operations and is rapidly expanding. The company has entered the trekking and adventure sports sectors, including kayaking. Although adventure sports in India have enormous potential, public safety is still a huge concern. FlutterBuy plans to thrive as a venture in this area. Regarding paragliding, it is imperative to analyze several factors that aren’t currently taken into account, including the equipment’s airworthiness, the pilot’s level of expertise, their knowledge of the weather, awareness of the terrain, and more. Due to this important concern, the Government of Himachal Pradesh invested in organizations that offer safe adventure tourism experiences.
“The safety of travellers visiting our state will remain a priority for our tourism board, and towards this goal, we will focus on enabling ventures that are catering to the needs of the safe adventure sports in the state,” says Rakesh Prajapati (IAS) Director, HP Industries.
