The problem
Global booking platforms do not operate in Iran, so travellers had no single place to compare and buy flights, train seats or bus tickets online — every trip meant a visit to a brick-and-mortar agency or a string of phone calls.
How it works
Active since January 2014 and headquartered in Tehran, Alibaba Travels launched its first online-services website in July 2014, positioning itself as the pioneer of online travel services in Iran. Travellers use alibaba.ir to search and pay for domestic and international flights from all Iranian airlines alongside train tickets, bus tickets and tour packages. Note: despite the name, this is an Iranian company — it has no connection to China’s Alibaba Group.
Pain points
Blocked global platforms, fragmented offline sellers, rial-denominated fares that swing with the exchange rate, and no unified checkout across air, rail and road transport.
Business model
Classic online travel agency: the company earns commissions and service fees on each booking flowing through alibaba.ir.
Challenges
The whole business runs inside a sanctions perimeter — no global distribution systems, no international payment rails — and its hard-currency valuation moves with Iran’s exchange-rate regime, which its foreign backers track through the NIMA platform rate.
Funding
- Backed by Sarava through parent Toshe (Tousha) Tourism Holding, which owns the Alibaba online travel business.
- Sweden-listed Pomegranate Investment AB holds exposure via its Sarava portfolio and applies independent international and domestic valuations to Alibaba Travel (part of Tousha Group).
Latest — Jun 2019
On 27 June 2019 Pomegranate Investment AB reported that Alibaba Travel (part of Tousha Group) was a key driver of its Sarava holding’s value — a beneficiary of the foreign-competition vacuum — with two independent external valuations incorporated for the first time.