Hong Kong hospitality technology firm Tink Labs raises $125m

According to a filing, FIH contributed a total of $113.25 million to the new round, after investing $13 million in a previous round in November. Sinovation Ventures, formerly Innovation Works, and angel investor Wensheng Cai, who founded Chinese selfie-editing app Meitu, also participated in the latest round.

Tink Labs, which was founded in 2012 by 24-year-old university drop-out Terence Kwok, began as a mobile device service that targeted travelers at airports. However, the company found that the business was difficult to scale up and it shifted its focus to hotel guests. It is best known for its flagship "Handy" smart phone, which hotel guests can use to access to internet and make free local and international calls.

Tink Labs rents its phones to hotels through long-term subscription deals. The devices enable hotels to engage with their guests, as well as to gather data on customers' preferences. The company claims that Handy can help lift hotel owers' revenue by 3.4% on average.

Tink Labs has already installed 100,000 phones at three-to five-star hotels in 15 cities around the world, including Hong Kong, Singapore and London. Its partner hotel brands include Sofitel, Shangri-la, Ritz-Calton and Sheraton.

Following the new funding round, the company plans to expand to one million phones by the end of next year, in addition to developing more mobile services for hotel operators. Tink Labs is in the process of setting up a joint venture with Sharp Corporation, which is majority-owned by Foxconn. The deal would allow Tink Labs to access a vast network of hotel partners across Japan, Kwok told Nikkei Asian Review.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Technology
• Consumer
• Early-stage
• Hong Kong (China)
• TMT
• Foxconn Technology Group
• Innovation Works
• Venture