Aspex leads $200m Series E for Hong Kong's Klook

The investment follows a prioritization of efforts to digitize travel service businesses that may be suffering from the effects of COVID-19 but are still able to leverage interest in home holidays, or “staycations.”

This included a focus on guided tour services and ticketing, as well as car rentals, an expansion area for the start-up. A livestreaming mobile feature was launched last year to enhance an attraction discovery and booking strategy referred to as “traveltainment,” and a contact tracing system was introduced in the Philippines.

"Despite a challenging 2020, we have shown our mettle, turning challenges into growth opportunities with agility and constant innovation. We've observed over the past year that consumers have a pent-up desire to explore and enjoy themselves,” Ethan Lin, CEO and co-founder of Klook, said in a statement.

“Instead, they are turning inwards – exploring new and unique experiences right in their backyard. This new capital further strengthens our leading position to take us from defense to offense, as domestic tourism becomes ubiquitous and international travel gradually returns.”

Existing investors Sequoia Capital China, SoftBank Vision Fund, Matrix Partners China, and Boyu Capital joined the round. It follows a $200 million Series D in 2018 that also featured Goldman Sachs and a $225 million Series D extension in 2019 led by Vision Fund. Total funding since inception now stands at more than $720 million, according to AVCJ Research.

Klook claimed to have onboarded 150% more activities to its platform during the height of the pandemic compared to the same period in 2019, citing merchants’ eagerness to digitize. It said key markets where COVID-19 restrictions have been eased such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan have witnessed increased spending on local attractions, with bookings reaching near pre-pandemic levels.

Meanwhile, there has been an effort to establish stronger partnerships with tourism boards across the region to help diversify offerings and grow demand domestically. In Singapore, Klook was appointed by the tourism board as a booking partner for the SingapoRediscovers voucher program to boost local demand.

Investors attracted by long-term upside and discounted valuations have continued to embrace travel sector opportunities, albeit with significant selectivity and caution. Activity in this space includes Korea’s MyRealTrip raising about $36 million from a group of regional VCs and Indonesia’s Traveloka raising a $250 million round. Both deals closed in July 2020.

In September, Taiwanese tour package vendor KKday raised a $75 million round led by government investors Cool Japan Fund and Taiwan’s National Development Fund. KKday planned to use the money to build out a service that helps merchants manage COVID-19 safety measures and crowd limitation requirements.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Expansion
• Hong Kong (China)
• Sequoia Capital
• Softbank
• Matrix Partners
• Boyu Capital
• Travel
• TMT
• covid-19