Pawan Shetty

CTO/Co-founder at onarrival travel,mostly a mute spectator on Twitter/x - occasional posts are triggered by my cat jojo

[India FinTech Forum @India_Fintech]

🎉 Congratulations @TravelOnArrival for being a finalist in the Fintech Startup of the Year category at IFTA 2025!

Join us to celebrate the brightest minds in fintech.
📅 10 Dec 2025 | 📍 Aurika, Mumbai

@SatanAtWink @pawshetty @karansarena @shubham9588

[TheLiverDoc™ @theliverdoc]

Good morning.

The weekend witnessed a massive hate campaign directed against me by the pseudoscientific Ayurveda community as well as large account Indian right-wing influencers including "fellow doctor colleagues."

They doxed my work place, threw religious slurs at me, morphed my images, made vulgar racist comments, defamed my family, called us organ traffickers, and named my public health awareness efforts "rabid."

By doing that, they have exposed themselves more. My work and it's importance have become even more valuable.

I appreciate and thank my follower-friends (you know who you are🫶) and doctor colleagues (you know who you are 🫶) here on Twitter for supporting me and helping my voice echo longer and stronger. The public support against pseudoscientific alternative medicine was even stronger and it gladdened me.

ONE event, and now everyone knows how dangerous alternative medicine such as Ayurveda and Homeopathy are. Everyone knows how the practitioners and their supporters are the real rabid cultists.

Why do I strongly oppose Ayurveda and Homeopathy and such alternative medicine practices? Because it has real world outcomes.

Shown in the image below are the various alternative medicines, herbal and dietary supplements that many people took because of advertisements, promotions on anecdotes and health misinformation on social media. They came to me with severe liver injury and some in liver failure for treatments. My team painstakingly retrieved these products from them. Sadly and to my terrible sorrow, most of these patients did not make it. They are survived by their young children or spouses, or aging parents only.

You think your massive hate campaign will deter me? It only makes me stronger. Keep 'em coming. You have no idea of the gargantuan beast you have created with so much hate. I'll keep educating people and public as long as I can, as much as I can. Jai Hind.

[Ankit Sawant @SatanAtWink]

this week we had my life’s first ever attempt at startup espionage where a desperate founder asked his team to reach out to everyone working at @TravelOnArrival under the guise of job interview to ask questions about how we operate, margins, supplier lists, etc. to compete for a potential enterprise customer who we both were in the final round of pitching on the same day back to back

only one went on the call. most didn’t even respond & some even said they aren’t looking for a change

but that one person who went on a call - they used deceit. they found a connect to him via a common friend & tried to get this information under the pretence of helping a friend’s friend out

luckily nothing confidential was shared

the only way to take this is we are doing things right which warrants this level of desperation

but definitely crazy times are ahead!

[Karan Mange @karansarena]

From bhai kuch volume dikh nahi raha to bhai system sambhal nahi raha – what a ride!

खेल तो अब शुरू हुआ है!🔥🔥🔥
@TravelOnArrival

[Ankit Sawant @SatanAtWink]

30x growth

on 28th feb, in a single day, @TravelOnArrival handled as much volume as it handled in the entire month of May’24

Yakeen-e-Kaamil tha ki kashti doob jaayegi,
Saahil kareeb aaya toh sab hairaan the.

[TheLiverDoc™ @theliverdoc]

Read this carefully.

It says cancer is curable when diagnosed early and advanced cancers can go into remission when treated properly with medical, surgical and interventional management which includes chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

Your beliefs and personal anecdotes are not evidence.

Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Yoga, Naturopathy, Siddha and Unani and those lovely plants and flowers in your grandma's garden and the lemon your grocer sells and that turmeric in your backyard or neem from your neighbor's tree does nothing to cancer - from preventive and treatment aspects.

Please get this inside your nationalistic, religious drivel loving, cultural dogmatism embracing, health illiteracy skulls. It's a request.

All because some cricketer-turned-politician put emotions and politics before science, facts and evidence.

[Ankit Sawant @SatanAtWink]

status of @TravelOnArrival’s seed round

🟩🟩🟩🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️

as painful as this has been, equally successful we will be!

🟩 - committed
🟨 - yet to IC
⬜️ - reading data room

[Pawan Shetty @pawshetty]

If deep insights had Michelin stars, @SatanAtWink scores three.

[Ankit Sawant @SatanAtWink]

Uber's $20 Billion Bid for Expedia: A Super App in the Making?
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Yesterday, I woke up to the news of Uber potentially acquiring Expedia for a staggering $20 billion. This bold move signals Uber's ambition to become a "super app," a one-stop shop for a wide range of consumer needs. This isn't entirely out of the blue; for the past two years, Uber has been dipping its toes into the travel market by offering flights, trains, & busses in partnership with Hopper & Omio in the UK & Spain market.
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This potential acquisition is about more than just Dara Khosrowshahi's previous role as Expedia's CEO or his connection with Barry Diller. In its latest investor presentation, Uber explicitly identified travel as a multi-billion dollar opportunity. The UK experiment seems to be paying off.
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But let's take a step back. Uber acknowledges in its financials that there's still room to grow even in its most established markets, with only 35% of annual users engaging with the app monthly. This brings up an interesting point.​

Is Uber Reaching Peak User Growth?
My hypothesis is that Uber has already captured the "early adopter" segment – those with high disposable income and a willingness to try new things. This aligns with what Blume calls "India 1" – a segment that has driven significant consumption growth, particularly among Gen Z. This would have its own equivalence around the world as well.
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A recent report by Snap and BCG, "The $2 Trillion Opportunity: How Gen Z is Shaping the New India," highlights that Gen Z now outnumbers millennials in India.

And guess what their top spending category is? Travel.
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For Uber, and many established consumer brands, Gen Z is the key to growth over the next decade. They're heavy users of core services like ride-hailing, but what's next? Perhaps this is what Dara is thinking.

Why Travel? Why Expedia?
When user growth plateaus, companies often seek a larger share of their existing customers' wallets by expanding into adjacent markets. This is a classic conglomerate strategy.
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Travel is an excellent way to increase share of wallet. So why don't more apps do it? Well, some have. Amazon Pay partners with MakeMyTrip, HDFC SmartBuy with various online travel agents (OTAs), and Paytm previously had a deal with Cleartrip.
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However, building a travel offering is no small feat. It requires significant investment in time, money, and resources. Even with partnerships, most companies only get access to an API for inventory. Recreating essential consumer features is a challenge. Many integrated travel offerings lack basic functionalities like calendar view for fares or options to add meals and luggage. For e.g. currently, if you try to book an Air Asia flight on Amazon Pay for Bengaluru to Kuala Lumpur, you will not be able to add luggage in the ticket.
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I estimate that a consumer brand in India with high daily and monthly active users would need to spend $2-3 million to build a travel product comparable to leading OTAs. This includes hiring a dedicated team and providing customer support. And that's just the measurable cost; there's also the opportunity cost to consider. Building a competitive travel offering could take 2-3 years, even with a top-notch team.
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Uber's Advantage:
Acquiring Expedia would give Uber a massive head start. They gain:
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- Established Platform: No need to build from scratch.
- Brand Recognition: Expedia is a trusted name in travel.
- Extensive Inventory: Access to a vast network of flights, hotels, and other travel options.
- Data Synergy: Combine Uber's user data with Expedia's travel data for powerful personalization. Imagine travel recommendations based on your ride history!
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The Risks of Partnering in Travel:
There's the inherent risk of partnering, especially with another B2C company like Expedia. You become competitors. Earlier this year, Expedia abruptly ended its hotel inventory contract with Hopper in Canada, citing disagreements over Hopper's fintech products. The reality? Hopper was likely growing faster than Expedia, posing a threat.
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This acquisition raises questions about Expedia's existing B2B partnerships, which generate $25 billion in GMV. Some of these partners, like airlines or hotel chains, could become Uber's competitors if Uber expands further into travel. Will Uber risk alienating these partners?
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High-frequency apps, those used daily or monthly, have the potential to disrupt the travel market. Consider Meituan in China, a super-app used for everything from food delivery to ride-hailing. Because of its frequent use and massive user base, Meituan has successfully expanded into travel and sells more hotel rooms than Ctrip, China's largest online travel agency. This demonstrates how an app with high user engagement can leverage its platform to challenge established players in the travel industry.
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This can very well play out in India.
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Takeaway:
Imagine a world where you can also buy travel from quick commerce or your favourite credit card comes up with a travel app as comparable as MMT?
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How wildly would consumer behaviour change? How will it affect the bottomline, ARPU, & utility of the brand if it who wants to integrate travel?
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A lot of times, I get asked by non-travel selling brands wanting to sell travel - "but Ankit, what will be my right to win against an incumbent?" I think the right question to ask is, "How will it strengthen your relationship with your power users?"
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If you are someone working in a high DAU/MAU brand & always wondered about this or in a random conversation thought what if we sell travel, we have some great answers, only if you are willing to take this trip together.
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@TravelOnArrival is building an AWS for travel. We believe that just like AWS made it easy for anyone to operate online, we are making it easy for anyone to start selling travel, at the same level as the leading travel brands in India.
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We promise a go-live in 30days or less via a novel integration approach which your product & tech teams will love.
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I think I have done well to make this big news about us?
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DMs are open!

[Rahul Mathur @Rahul_J_Mathur]

What if I told you that the 5th largest online travel platform (OTA) is a bank?

Pretty shocking right? Booking & Expedia each do $100bn+ in annual travel bookings after 20 years of operations; JP Morgan’s Chase Travel did $10bn in annual booking in 2023 in its 3rd year of operations.. Let that sink in!

In 2022, JP Morgan acquired Frosch (a luxury travel agent in USA), And, this year, they even launched actual lounges at airports for Chase members.

There is a LOT to unpack here:

(1) Why do banks / Fin companies offer travel solutions? 🤔

- Credit Cards & Travel are closely linked. In 2023, travel related CCs saw a x5 surge in applications (for India) accounting for 50% of all new CCs..
- Usually travel spends are put on a CC (both corporate & personal) to earn miles / points
- If the customer books a ticket via an OTA then the CC issuing bank only makes money on interchange (< 2%)
- BUT, IF the customer books a ticket via the bank’s own OTA, the bank makes ~2% (interchange) ++ 5% to 10% (brokerage fees)

(2) More recent examples 💡

- 2021: UK neo-bank Revolut partnered with Expedia to launch travel booking in-app
- 2022: AMEX launched a new bookings page with GetYourGuide
- 2023: CRED in India launched “Escapes” (travel booking) & Scapia launched to be the ‘Capital One’ of India

(3) What is the revenue opportunity? 💸

- W/o an OTA, a bank can make ~2% interchange on travel spend & usually doesn’t even break-even on the discounting spends
- W/ an OTA, the same bank could make ~5% to 10% of additional brokerage on flights & stay bookings
- But here’s the real sweetener: There are travel ancillaries such as Visa, FOREX, Cabs, Tours etc which can also generate incremental revenue

🤑 Therefore, with its own OTA, a bank can potentially grow margins by x10 from 2% to 20% (more margin capture on same payment + margin capture from new payments)

✅ Travel is an great way for FinTech companies (neo-banks, card issuing programs etc) to generate incremental ₹₹ from their existing customer base.. x10 the margin (per my calculations)

➡The crux here is: Layer on value-add services to the core financial product (bank account or card) along with quality service to drive higher margins which in-turn can fund better rewards which in-turn should lead to higher customer loyalty.

[Ankit Sawant @SatanAtWink]

last weekend was the greatest for @TravelOnArrival

friday we hit an all-time-high in gmv & transactions which was broken on Saturday, which was further broken on Sunday. happiness in layers

not only did we cross the $2.3m annualised gmv last quarter but this quarter we are gonna stretch & aim for closing at a run rate of $15m. this is going to be a stretch goal for the team.

all this while remaining not only cash-flow positive but also onboarding 2 more enterprise customers who will 1.5x our revenue while generating free cash flow to invest in growth

[Arjun Bharti @iarjunbharti]

We're hiring a front-end engineer with over 2+ years of experience!
Join us @TravelOnArrival and help shape the future of travel ancillaries. ✈️🏨🚎

DM your Github link, resume, portfolio
#JobOpening

[Pawan Shetty @pawshetty]

@Shiv2002Agarwal You should be able to now

[Pawan Shetty @pawshetty]

🚀 we are also hiring frontend and backend engineers! join our team during this exciting phase. do dm or refer if travel tech excites you!

[Ankit Sawant @SatanAtWink]

something that the team @TravelOnArrival has been working on relentlessly over the last 2 quarters went live towards the end of last month ✅

today we achieved $1.3m in annualised GMV with less than 20 days of being live. All without any marketing spends & growing at 36% w-o-w. Will definitely exit this quarter with $2.3m - next 2 weeks will almost double 🔥🔥

When you are riding the wave of PMF, it’s always recommended to fasten your seat belts.

Next quarter will be the journey to 10x this.

@pawshetty @karansarena @iarjunbharti @jog_sid5 @Vineetnair11 @elzeusvj @_omjigupta_ @ApoorvaGhorpade

[Pawan Shetty @pawshetty]

@R01202183Raj You should be able to now

[Pawan Shetty @pawshetty]

@iamdivineobeten You should be able to now

[Pawan Shetty @pawshetty]

@Devsquad_alkesh You should be able to now

[Pawan Shetty @pawshetty]

@its_SusmitaDey You should be able to now

[Pawan Shetty @pawshetty]

@dhruv_says_hi Check your inbox now?

[Gautam Shewakramani @gshewakr]

Flight @TravelOnArrival has been cleared for takeoff.

[Pawan Shetty @pawshetty]

@Zouziszzm Now?

[Pawan Shetty @pawshetty]

@Zouziszzm Can you dm your resume?