Hospitality Startup & OYO's South-East Asian Twin, RedDoorz Raises US$70 Mn from Asia Partners & Others The investment was led by Asia Partners, Rakuten Capital and Mirae Asset Naver Asia Growth Fund, existing investors including Qiming Venture Partners and International Financial Corporation (IFC) also participated in the round
By Bhavya Kaushal •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Singapore-based budget hotel accommodation startup, RedDoorz, raised US$70 million in its Series C round of funding, the company announced.
The investment was led by Asia Partners, Rakuten Capital and Mirae Asset Naver Asia Growth Fund. Existing investors including Qiming Venture Partners and International Financial Corporation (IFC) also participated in the round.
"We are thrilled to welcome a new group of seasoned investors joining us in our mission to build the leading tech-enabled affordable travel brand in Southeast Asia. RedDoorz operates in some of the most dynamic markets in the world and we see tremendous opportunities to continue growing our platform and expanding into new markets," said Amit Saberwal, founder and chief executive of RedDoorz, in a statement. He also added that they are on the right track to create the next tech unicorn in Southeast Asia.
The company will use the fresh funds to launch in new markets, boost hotel staff training programmes and build a technology hub in Vietnam.
Founded in 2015 by former MakyMyTrip executives, Amit Saberwal and Kunwar Asheesh Saxena, RedDoorz, has a similar business model as the famous hospitality unicorn startup, OYO, which is backed by SoftBank. RedDoorz partners with hotel owners to provide accommodation to consumers backed with technology. It claims to have 1000 properties across South East Asia including in Singapore, Jakarta, Bali, Philippines etc. The unicorn which is yet to enter into the Indian market raised US$45 million in Series B round of funding in July. Till date, it has raised US$140 million in equity financing.
Apart from OYO, its major competitor in the Asia-Pacific region is Rocket Internet-backed and Indonesia-based Zen Rooms.
According to Phocuswright Asia Pacific is the world's largest travel market, projected to grow to USD $500 billion in 2021. A major chunk of the revenue coming in is because of the digitization of travel services which is a key factor is attracting travel and tourism.
