- General
- August 7, 2018
- 5 minutes read
Hong Kong travel startup Klook nabs $200 million in funding round and goes unicorn
Klook Hong Kong based travel activity startup Klook has closed a $200 million Series D funding round co-led by Sequioa…
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| Klook |
Hong Kong based travel activity startup Klook has closed a $200 million Series D funding round co-led by Sequioa and Boyu Capital which values the company at over $1 Billion as confirmed by a spokesperson to TechCrunch although an exact figure hasn’t yet been provides.
Matrix Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), Goldman Sachs, OurCrowd, and several family offices participated in this funding round as reported by the company.
“Our mission is to empower travelers to build their own unique journey,” said Ethan Lin, CEO and Co-Founder of Klook, “This round of funding marks an important milestone for us. The funding and extensive experience from our new investors will let us to further solidify our merchant portfolio and provide travelers with even more activities and destinations to explore around the world.”
Four year old Klook has grown to become a leading travel and activities platform for global users with over 50,000 offerings at more than 200 destinations and says its set to gross over $1 Billion in total bookings on its platform this year.
“We are committed to using innovative technologies to help digitize the tours and activities industry,” said Eric Gnock Fah, COO and Co-Founder of Klook. “The new funding will help us deepen our partnership with merchants through more technological solutions that bring new sources of customers and optimize operational efficiencies.”
With this funding which brings the total raised by Klook till date to $300 millions, It plans to expand its global footprint with the opening of a U.S. office aimed for this year in addition to the 16 offices it currently counts with more than 600 employees globally.
The rise of independent travelers and and increasing consumer spending mainly from the Asian region led to an immense increase of Klook’s usage with a lot of travelers taking to its platform which counts over 50,000 activities and about 5,000 industry partners for experiences.
Klook’s previous backers include Sequioa, Welight Capital, China Growth Capital, Goldman Sachs, OurCrowd among others with most of these stated VC firms returning to participate in this round.
The travel startup’s services are currently available in 8 languages and 36 currencies being supported marking a good base for global usage of its platform.
“By leveraging their strength in digitally transforming their suppliers of tours and activities and tapping into the new generation of mobile-first travelers, Klook is emerging as the clear leader in the online tours and activities sector,” said Neil Shen, Founding and Managing Partner of Sequoia China. “We look forward to seeing Klook help more and more travelers connect to suppliers, and become a key source of inbound demand for Asia and beyond.”
