Chitra Gurnani Daga co-founded Thrillophilia in 2009, building one of India's leading experience-based travel platforms before expanding into the 53Takeoffs travel ecosystem.
From IT professional to travel entrepreneur, explore Chitra Gurnani Daga’s journey of building Thrillophilia and redefining experiential travel across India and beyond.
Written by TFN Research Desk | covering startups, technology, venture capital, and business strategy.
Table of Contents
- Who is Chitra Gurnani Daga?
- Early Life and Education
- Career Before Thrillophilia
- How Thrillophilia Started
- Funding History
- Revenue Growth and Recent Developments
- Public Recognition
- Thrillophilia vs Competitors
- Investor Perspective
- Founder Timeline
- Key Takeaways
- FAQs
- Sources
Who is Chitra Gurnani Daga?
Chitra Gurnani Daga is the co-founder and CEO of Thrillophilia, the experience-based travel platform she built with her husband, Abhishek Daga, starting from ₹5 lakh in personal savings. What distinguishes her story is what came after early venture funding: rather than continuing to raise capital, the couple later bought back investor shares entirely, reclaiming full ownership of the business they had started as a part-time side project.
Early Life and Education
Daga completed her schooling at St. Anselm’s Pink City Senior Secondary School in Jaipur, then earned a Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology from the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, graduating in 2006. She went on to complete an MBA in Strategy and Marketing at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, graduating in 2011.
Career Before Thrillophilia
Daga began her career focused on database design and query optimization for web portals, working with companies including Infosys and SAP before her MBA. Her husband, Abhishek, an IIT-BHU Varanasi alumnus, shared her entrepreneurial ambitions, and the two spent time researching the travel and activities market before deciding to build something together, choosing not to sit for campus placements at ISB in order to run the company full-time instead.
How Thrillophilia Started
The Dagas launched Thrillophilia Tours Pvt. Ltd. in 2009 as a part-time venture with roughly ₹5 lakh in personal savings and contributions from family and friends, initially focused on activity-based and experiential travel bookings rather than standard sightseeing packages. To manage the financial risk, the couple made a conscious decision that neither would draw a salary from the company until it became profitable enough to support both of them; Abhishek continued working his corporate job to keep the household running while Chitra ran Thrillophilia full time. The company’s early proof point came through its B2B relationships with corporate clients, which generated the bulk of its initial revenue before the founders shifted focus toward consumer-facing bookings.
Funding History
| Round | Year | Amount | Lead Investor(s) |
| Seed | 2011 | Not publicly disclosed | US-based angel investor |
| Series A | 2013 | $200,000 | Hyderabad Angels, iLabs Venture Capital Fund, Navlok Ventures, CII (IIM A) |
| Growth round | 2015 | Part of $1.2 million (combined with 2013) | Not publicly disclosed |
| Share buyback | Later years | Not publicly disclosed | Founders repurchased investor shares |
Thrillophilia raised a combined $1.2 million across its 2013 and 2015 funding rounds. In a move uncommon among Indian startups, the Dagas subsequently orchestrated a buyback of investor shares, regaining full founder control of the company.
Revenue Growth and Recent Developments
By 2020, Thrillophilia offered more than 12,500 activities across over 125 destinations and had attracted more than 3 million users, growing at roughly 200 percent year-over-year during its peak activities-focused years. Following a strategic pivot in 2019, the founders launched 53Takeoffs in 2021, a broader multi-day tours conglomerate with Thrillophilia as its flagship seller brand. According to The Week, 53Takeoffs served more than 800,000 travelers in 2023 and reported a turnover exceeding ₹500 crore that year, roughly 2.5 times its prior year figure, with the founders publicly targeting a turnover of over ₹25,000 crore by 2027 across more than 100 travel brands.
Public Recognition
Daga has been recognized among India’s leading women entrepreneurs, featured on Fortune India’s 40 Under 40 list, and received BW Disrupt’s Women Entrepreneur recognition. She has also been recognized by India’s Ministry of External Affairs for her contributions to the travel and tourism industry.
Thrillophilia vs Competitors
| Brand | Founded | Positioning |
| Thrillophilia | 2009 | Experience and activity-based travel, now flagship of 53Takeoffs |
| MakeMyTrip | 2000 | Broad online travel agency, flights, hotels, and packages |
| Veena World | 1991 | Curated group tours, largely offline-to-online model |
Thrillophilia carved a distinct niche in activity and experience-based travel bookings rather than competing directly on flights and hotel bookings, a positioning that later evolved into the broader multi-day tours business under 53Takeoffs.
Investor Perspective
Daga’s decision to forgo a conventional corporate placement after her MBA, choosing instead to run a bootstrapped side project full time, reflects a founder willing to trade short-term financial certainty for long-term ownership. Her strength lies in identifying an underserved niche, curated activities and experiences, and building trusted vendor relationships around it before pivoting into a larger tours business. The buyback of investor shares is a notable signal of confidence, though it also meant forgoing the growth capital many competitors used to scale faster. If 53Takeoffs’ ambitious multibillion-dollar targets materialize even partially, the founders’ decision to reclaim full ownership before that scale-up could prove to be a defining strategic choice.
Founder Timeline
- 2006 — Completes B.Tech in Information Technology at DA-IICT
- Early career — Works at Infosys and SAP on database and web portal projects
- 2009 — Co-founds Thrillophilia Tours Pvt. Ltd. with Abhishek Daga
- 2011 — Completes MBA at ISB Hyderabad; raises undisclosed seed funding
- 2013 — Raises $200,000 from Hyderabad Angels and other investors
- 2015 — Raises additional funding, bringing combined total to $1.2 million
- 2019 — Founders recognize the need for strategic change beyond pure activities
- 2021 — Launches 53Takeoffs as a broader multi-day tours conglomerate
- 2023 — 53Takeoffs reports 500+ crore turnover, serving 800,000+ travelers
Key Takeaways
- Bootstrapping a venture on personal savings while a spouse maintains steady income can reduce founder risk without slowing early growth.
- An early niche focus, activity-based experiences, can later serve as the proof point for a much larger business pivot.
- Buying back investor shares is a rare but powerful way for founders to regain full strategic control once a company reaches sustainable profitability.
- Recognizing when a business model has plateaued, as the Dagas did in 2019, can be the catalyst for a larger reinvention rather than a sign of failure.
FAQs
Who founded Thrillophilia?
Chitra Gurnani Daga and Abhishek Daga, in 2009.
How much funding did Thrillophilia raise?
$1.2 million combined across 2013 and 2015 rounds, before the founders bought back investor shares.
What is 53Takeoffs?
A broader multi-day tours conglomerate launched by the Dagas in 2021, with Thrillophilia as its flagship brand.
What is Thrillophilia’s revenue?
53Takeoffs reported a turnover exceeding ₹500 crore in 2023, according to The Week.
Where did Chitra Gurnani Daga study?
DA-IICT for her undergraduate degree, and ISB Hyderabad for her MBA.
What did Daga do before Thrillophilia?
She worked at Infosys and SAP on database design and web portal projects.
What awards has she received?
Fortune India’s 40 Under 40 and BW Disrupt’s Women Entrepreneur recognition.
What makes Thrillophilia different?
Its origins in curated, activity-based travel experiences rather than standard flight and hotel bookings.
Sources
- Thrillophilia — About Us: https://www.thrillophilia.com/about-us
- We Rise By Lifting Others — Biography of Chitra Gurnani Daga: https://www.werisebyliftingothers.in/2024/07/biography-of-chitra-gurnani-dagaco.html
- The Week — Thrillophilia’s Funding Saga to 53 Takeoffs: https://www.theweek.in/focus/leisure/2024/03/18/thrillophilias-funding-saga-to-53-takeoffs-organic-growth-a-tale-of-success.html
- The CEO Magazine — Chitra Gurnani Daga profile: https://www.theceo.in/blogs/chitra-gurnani-daga
- YourStory — How and why $200,000 was invested in Thrillophilia: https://yourstory.com/2013/09/thrillophilia-funding-2nd-round
- TTF 2025-26 — Chitra Gurnani speaker profile: https://ttfotm.com/chitra-gurnani/
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