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Vision Knight, Softbank China back tourism site 8trip

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Vision Knight Capital has led a RMB150 million ($25 million) round of funding for 8trip, a Chinese B2B online travel website. SoftBank China Venture Capital (SBCVC) also participated in the round.

The company claims this is the largest-ever capital injection in the B2B online travel sector.

The new funding will be used to improve online services and user experience, Dong Yuan, founder and CEO of the company, said in a statement.

David Wei, chairman and co-founder of Vision Knight, said he aims to scale up 8trip's business to the same size as Alibaba.com, the B2B platform of Alibaba Group. Wei was previously CEO at Alibaba.com.

8trip is Vision Knight's 10th investment, with other portfolio companies including 91 Wireless, 500wan and PPS. SBCVC has previously invested in Alibaba, Taobao and Focus Media.

8trip was founded in 2011 as Octopus Online Tourism Development and is headquartered in Suzhou. The company has partnerships with about 1,000 travel agencies and 4,000 service outlets.

Recent investments in China's online tourism industry include Fosun Venture Capital Investment and ChinaRock Capital Management's Series A round for Shijiebang and Temasek Holdings and DCM's $60 million investment in Tuniu. Meanwhile, Qunar, an online travel booking site backed by several VC firms and controlled by Baidu, raised $167 million in a US IPO.

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