<p>Cleartrip, one of the top online travel agencies (OTA) in India, is understood to be readying the platform to raise as much as $50 million through the private equity route. The company has already been backed by some of the blue-chip private equity fund including Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp; Byers, Sherpalo Ventures, DAG Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, besides a strategic investment from US-based Concur Technologies.</p><p>The company, which oscillates between the second and third position with Yatra.com and market-leader Makemytrip-.com, is understood to be in various stages of appointing an investment banker to start the process. This move by Cleartrip to look at raising fresh resources comes at a time when goibibo.com, another OTA backed by cash-rich Naspers Group of South Africa, is on an overdrive in India and is fast gaining ground. Independent research reports have indicated that the traffic to goibibo.com has been on a sharp upswing. Cleartrip had last raised $40 million during early 2011 from US-based Concur Technologies, which is a provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions for companies.</p><p>According e-commerce sector watchers, a consolidation is inevitable in the OTA sector and it is likely that goibibo.com will lead that. They, however, declined to spell out whether Naspers will look at Cleartrip.</p><p>A spokesperson for Cleartrip said it continues to have a strong set of investors who are aligned in building the business. "We continue to grow the business, despite a challenging market environment in both our core India and West Asia operations on the back of strong performance, from both our mobile and hotel businesses," he added.</p><p><a href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/cleartrip-readies-platform-to-raise-50-mn-through-pes-114032601430_1.html">Keep reading...</a></p>