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Blibli announcing the acquisition of Tiket in Jakarta earlier this year. Photo credit: Blibli

Ecommerce site Blibli has acquired online travel agent Indonesia Flight to support Tiket, the travel and ticket booking platform it took over in June.

“Indonesia Flight will run as usual,” co-founder and CEO Marcella Einsteins told Tech in Asia. “But now we are working with Tiket, and we will merge our teams for resource efficiency.”

No other details of the deal were disclosed.

Indonesia Flight was one of the first startups in the country to sell tickets through a mobile app. It made US$37 million by gross merchandise volume last year.

The association between Indonesia Flight and Tiket goes back to before the latter’s acquisition by Blibli.

Indonesia Flight was launched in 2012 by venture builder Ticket Solutions, with an app built using a Tiket API.

It sold travel packages from Tiket, and both startups shared at least one angel investor. According to Einsteins, that investor sold his Indonesia Flight shares back to her and co-founder Yoppy Nelwanto when Blibli bought Tiket.

Nevertheless, at the time of the deal, Einsteins denied that there were talks about Blibli taking over Indonesia Flight.

“In the discussion about the Blibli-Tiket acquisition, there [was] no discussion that Blibli will also acquire us,” she told Tech in Asia at the time. “[We, the founders] decided to take over our shares and become an independent startup.”

Since Tiket’s takeover, Indonesia Flight has tried to reduce its dependency on third parties by dealing directly with airlines and hotel owners. Einsteins and Nelwanto had also set out to sign up new investors, but the acquisition by Blibli means that’s no longer necessary.

Online airplane and hotel bookings have become an ultra-competitive space in the archipelago. Traveloka – which raised US$500 million this year from investors including Sequoia Capital, Expedia, and JD – dominates the segment.

Converted from Indonesian rupiah. Rate: US$1 = IDR 13,511.22

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