Singapore’s BeMyGuest raises $8.4m Series A round
Singapore’s Raffles Venture Partners has led a Series A funding round for domestic travel start-up BeMyGuest that brings the company’s total equity funding to S$11.5 million ($8.4 million).
Spring Seeds Capital and technology investor Koh Boon Hwee also participated in the round alongside travel agency Chang Brothers and travel industry investors Meng Xiong Kuok and Leland Kwee. The capital will be used to accelerate growth across Asia as the company pivots its operational focus toward business-to-business (B2B) transactions.
“BeMyGuest has proven themselves through successfully becoming the largest aggregator of Asian attractions, tours and activities content, and their continued track record in hyper-scaling the B2B business,” Koh said in a statement. “We are confident of the team cementing its position as the category leader.”
Founded in 2012, BeMyGuest specializes in aggregating and distributing Asian tours, attractions and activities for more than 500 strategic distribution partnerships, including Ctrip and Ticket Monster. The company claims to connect travel industry players with more than 4,500 suppliers, which in turn promote some 25,000 tourism activities in 900 destinations across the region.
The investment coincides with the launch of a new platform that facilitates access to the company’s distribution network for suppliers and resellers. The service includes applications for overseeing supplier inventories as well as a B2B marketplace and tools for managing e-tickets, multilingual functions, white labels and revenue accounts. The company is said to be on track to reach S$100M in sales through existing and new partnerships with travel companies.
VC investment in Southeast Asian travel is an emerging trend, with competition from international players encouraging creative business modeling among start-ups. Activities and tours services are typically regarded as one of the key openings for early-stage companies, although online bookings are said to account for only 11% of bookings.
Raffles makes fund-of-fund investments in top-quartile US fund managers as well as direct investments in technology start-ups. Recent activity includes participation in a $10.5 million Series B round for Singapore-based IT company ViSenze.
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