4/4/2020 Tencent Bets Big on Ctrip-Backed LvYue Hotel Group: Travel Startup Funding This Week – Skift
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Tencent Bets Big on
Ctrip-Backed LvYue
Hotel Group: Travel
Startup Funding This
Week
Sean O'Neill, Skift - Nov 22, 2019 1:00 am
I
s there anything that Trip.com Group (formerly Ctrip)
won’t do? LvYue Hotel Group is its upscale
Skift
counterpart to Oyo, a set of hotel brands run in
Take
partnership with local operators in 10 Asian countries
and run on cloud-based software.
— Sean O'Neill
Each week we round up travel startups that have recently received or announced
funding. Please email Travel Tech Editor Sean O'Neill at [email protected] if you have
funding news.
This week, travel startups announced hundreds of millions of dollars in funding.
Earlier this week, we reported that Traxo, a travel startup, has raised nearly $10
million in funding in a round not yet closed. Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC)
led that stake. Traxo helps track and manage itineraries in corporate travel and
provides other data services.
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>>LvYue, a Beijing-based hotel
d f d l h
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4/4/2020 Tencent Bets Big on Ctrip-Backed LvYue Hotel Group: Travel Startup Funding This Week – Skift
operator and software developer, has
secured a Series A round of financing
of an undisclosed amount equal to
“several hundred million U.S. dollars.”
The travel information technology
group has built a hotel reservation
platform, and it manages some hotels
under seven soft brands including the
premium brands Floral and Arula.
Tencent led the round. Sequoia China,
Baidu Capital, Goldman Sachs, Ocean
Link (Trip.com Group’s investment
arm), Caissa Travel, and others also
participated.
“LvYue is a direct incubator investment of Ctrip and an important component of
Ctrip’s internationalization strategy,” said Trip.com Group CEO Jane Sun in a
statement. “Through data-driven operation and technology-driven development,
LvYue Group has become a leading force in Ctrip’s globalization strategy.”
Founded in 2016, LvYue stood out early by creating its own property management
system, XPMS, which it built from the start to run on the cloud and be able to
handle different types of accommodation, not merely hotels. The system helps
manage room inventory, distribute room inventory and rates on online and offline
channels, and set prices in response to changes in supply and demand.
LvYue operates hotel brands, with six brands covering various types of hotels, from
Floral the boutique hotels and resorts, Arula a premium brand, and Suoxing an
economy choice. It runs about 1,900 hotels in 10 countries including China, Japan,
South Korea, Thailand, and India.
LvYue is betting that the spread of brands that happened among hotels in the
West in the past few decades will also happen in Asia. Brands can buy things like
mattresses at volume discounts and can ensure consistent brand standards for
consumers. Three out of four of China’s guest rooms have no brand, for example,
compared to only one in three in the U.S., according to the School of Tourism
Science at the Beijing International Studies University.
Earlier this year, Tencent led a $250 million investment in Chinese travel site
Mafengwo, which provides online travel content somewhat similar to TripAdvisor.
Weeks ago, TripAdvisor and Trip.com Group entered into a global joint venture.
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>>Bungalow, a real estate and property management company, has raised $32
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4/4/2020 Tencent Bets Big on Ctrip-Backed LvYue Hotel Group: Travel Startup Funding This Week – Skift
million in Series B funding.
Founders Fund and Coatue co-led the round.
The San Francisco-based business leases unused residences in U.S. cities that face
housing shortages, furnishes the units, and then fills them with young roommates.
It offers co-living services to support community building.
>>TravelTriangle, which brings travelers and agents together for online sales of
vacation packages, has raised $13 million in a Series D round of funding.
KB Global Platform and the Fundamentum Partnership Fund I, backed by
billionaire Nandan Nilekani, co-led the round. SAIF Partners, Bessemer Venture
Partners, and RB investments also participated. Inc42 first reported the news. In
October, InnoVen Capital invested $3 million.
Founded in 2011, the Gurgaon, India-based startup has raised at least $40 million
to date.
TravelTriangle likens itself to a customer relationship management system for travel
agents. It said it has nearly 1,000 “active travel agents.” It has agents bid for
business, letting the traveler choose the best itinerary. TripHobo and TripFactory are
among its rivals.
Skift Cheat Sheet:
We define a startup as a company formed to test and build a repeatable and
scalable business model. Few companies meet that definition. The rare ones that
do often attract venture capital. Their funding rounds come in waves.
Seed capital is money used to start a business, often led by angel investors and
friends or family.
Series A financing is typically drawn from venture capitalists. The round aims to
help a startup’s founders make sure that their product is something that
customers truly want to buy.
Series B financing is mainly about venture capitalist firms helping a company grow
faster. These fundraising rounds can assist in recruiting skilled workers and
developing cost-effective marketing.
Series C financing is ordinarily about helping a company expand, such as through
acquisitions. In addition to VCs, hedge funds, investment banks, and private equity
firms often participate.
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Series D, E and beyond These mainly mature businesses and the funding round
h l bl b d
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4/4/2020 Tencent Bets Big on Ctrip-Backed LvYue Hotel Group: Travel Startup Funding This Week – Skift
may help a company prepare to go public or be acquired. A variety of types of
private investors might participate.
Check out Skift’s Top Travel Startups to Watch in 2019, here.
Tags: funding, startups, vcroundup
Photo Credit: An image of the lobby of the 69-room Vyluk Hotel in Chongqing, China, which is run by
LvYue, a hotel group that's a strategic investment of Trip.com Group and that received a round of
investment led by Tencent this week. Vyluk Hotel
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