Taiwan tourism platform KKday raises $75m Series C

Existing backers Monk’s Hill Ventures and MindWorks Capital re-upped. KKday had planned to raise as much as $100 million for expansion through M&A and the acquisition of products prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Instead, the round will primarily support the build-out of a new product called Rezio that is touted as a first of its kind, all-in-one sales management platform for tourism booking companies. It was first piloted during the pandemic in Taiwan and Japan in partnership with Japanese travel agencies Asoview and HIS.

Rezio’s key utility in light of the pandemic is the ability to facilitate real-time inventories across service providers’ various channels. This is considered a critical service given increasing safety measures and crowd limitation requirements in the industry. KKday claims the platform was adopted by 300 service providers during a six-month period. As of end-September, it had reached more than 150,000 end-customers.

“In our relentless pursuit to provide the best and seamless experience for any traveler, COVID-19 has pushed us to innovate. Rezio, we believe, will offer long-term value to travel operators, activity providers, and most importantly, their end-users – travelers,” Chen Ming-ming, founder and CEO of KKday (pictured), said in a statement. “We are also excited to continue expanding into new markets and to innovate new products and services with a traveler-focused mindset.”

Kuo-Yi Lim, co-founder of Monk’s Hill, said he expects the leisure travel industry to bounce back quickly from COVID-19, citing the desire for human connections and experiences as fundamental. Last month, Monk’s Hill noted that KKday was beginning to see a rebound in the domestic travel segment and had re-focused its efforts in that direction. This included introducing new e-commerce services featuring local souvenirs and foods such as Taiwanese noodles and pineapple cakes.

KKday’s core offering, a multi-lingual platform that connects travelers with local tour operators, has tracked a surge in demand for local travel services in Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong since May. The service now has more than five million users and hosts more than 30,000 curated experiences in 550 cities globally. Cool Japan said in a separate statement that profit had improved 150% in 2019. The company’s main competitor is Hong Kong’s Klook, which has raised more than $500 million.

KKday has raised at least $107 million to date, according to AVCJ Research. Previous investors include CDIB Capital, AppWorks Ventures, Cathay Venture Capital, and Substance Capital, as well as strategic players HIS, Line, and Alibaba Group.

The investment from Line and Alibaba facilitated partnerships with Line Travel, a mobile price comparison app, as well as Alibaba’s travel services and e-commerce platform Fliggy, which was previously known as Alitrip and Taobao Travel.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Expansion
• Support services
• Taiwan (China)
• Monk's Hill Ventures
• MindWorks Ventures
• Travel
• TMT
• professional services