Ships at Damnoen Saduak floating market in Bangkok, Thailand.
Provided by Klook
oNline Travel Agency K Look raised $100 million from private equity firm Vitruvian Partners by Eric Gnock Fah, an Asian alumnus under 30, on Wednesday, to raise the unicorn startup’s total funding to $1 billion .
Klook declined to disclose its latest valuation, but confirmed it is a unicorn, a startup valued at over $1 billion.
The company said the new capital will be used for Klook's “next phase of growth and innovation”, which includes an “extended” AI partnership with Google Cloud, designed to improve customer experience, merchant operations and internal productivity. So far, Klook has adopted Google Cloud's Gemini Foundation model to automatically translate in 10 languages, while using other Generative AI tools to view code and write content, such as descriptions of travel lists.
“We believe that Vitruvian's investment and its in-depth thematic expertise in the global travel experience market will further drive Klook's Klook by enhancing its operational capabilities and expanding its reach,” said Sophie Bower-Straziota, partner at Vitruvian Partners. Growth.”
Since its inception in 2006, London-based Vitruvian Partners has approximately €20 billion (USD 200.7 billion) of assets, including Lalamove, logistics company of Hong Kong billionaire Shing Chow and Wise Wise, Estonian billionaire Kristo Käärmann, a cross-order payment service. More than 80 companies have been supported. . In the online travel space, Vitruvian's investments include Flight Search website Skyscanner, which was acquired by Chinese travel giant Trip.com for about $1.7 billion in 2016, and the Travel Consultant is a website for self-employed travel agencies.
Founded in 2014 by FAH, CEO Ethan Lin and CTO Bernie Xiaokang Xiong, Klook helps its users book transportation, hotels and events through its website and app. Currently, it offers over 570,000 activities in 2,700 destinations worldwide. In 2018, Klook became one of the rare unicorns in Hong Kong after spending $200 million in financing. In 2023, it made a profit for the first time.
Klook claims it has “key hubs” in Hong Kong and Singapore, but is headquartered in any city but has attracted new investors amid the massive rise in tourism demand. In December 2023, Klook raised $210 million in the E+ round led by Bessemer Venture Partners and participated in the participation of billionaire Jean Salata’s EQT private capital Asia and Atinum Investment, which is 100 million. Supporter of the millionaire Seo Jung-Jung-jin Celltrion.
Still, Klook faces intense competition from online travel like Trip.com and airbnb as well as regional apps. In December, Taipei-based Travel Superapp Kkday received approximately $70 million in Asian & A merger deals from investors to increase its market share and invest in AI. Two months ago in September last year, Indonesian unicorn travel agency (acquired unicorn status in 2017 and profitable in 2023) worked with the Tourism Bureau of Thailand to offer discounts to Traveloka customers visiting the country.
According to a report jointly prepared by Google, Temasek and Bain, total travel bookings across online travel (before expected, both earlier than expected, earlier than expected, earlier than expected,” the report added. In addition, online travel agencies like Klook make money in monetizing products such as financing and insurance.
