Cleartrip has raised a third round of funding of $18.5 million, led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson which has put in $10 million. The Mahindra Group and existing investors Sherpalo Ventures and Kleiner Perkins have together put in $8.5 million, report Mint and VC Circle. In an interview, Sandeep Murthy, CEO of Cleartrip tells VC Circle that the company will use the money for scaling up its offline presence, and acquiring properties in car rental, cruises, as well as meta search engines. Murthy says that Cleartrip’s topline has grown 15 times in the last year - from $20 million in gross revenue to $300 million. Murthy also says that hotels haven’t taken off due to lack of adequate inventory.

What interests me in this deal is the entry of the Mahindra Group into the picture - this appears to be a strategic investment for them, unlike the VCs for whom it’s a financial investment; there are synergies with Club Mahindra, the groups vacation resort business. So now, Cleartrip and MakeMyTrip have raised three rounds of funding, and also announced plans for IPOs. What about Yatra? More on what’s been happening in the online travel space in our Travel channel.