Taiwanese tours and activities e-commerce platform KKday has announced an undisclosed investment from its series B+ funding co-led by Line Ventures and the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund.
Existing investors, including CDIB Capital and Monk’s Hill Ventures, also participated with follow-on investments.
The strategic funding is expected to accelerate KKday’s efforts to leverage technologies in travel bookings and experiences and further its global expansion into new markets.
The capital infusion will help KKday grow its operations in Japan, China and South Korea, and expand into new markets including Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and the US.
KKday, which launched in 2015, has been expanding its business and its array of product offerings and today offers more than 20,000 experiences in over 500 cities and 80 countries.
The two parties will begin their first strategic collaboration later this month in Taiwan when Line launches Line Travel, an in-app service that enables users to search and book flights, hotels, tours and activities, as well as to plan and share their itineraries with friends.
According to KKday, more global collaboration with Line is in the pipeline.
“Asia’s travel experience booking market has had explosive growth due to the changing of consumer behaviour,” said Masato Endo, investment director of Line Ventures.
Chen Ming-ming, the founder and CEO of KKday, commented: “The investment and collaboration with Line is a huge breakthrough, not just for KKday, but also for the travel industry. We are committed to digitising travel experiences with our partners and are very excited to be working with Line to build frictionless travel experiences for travellers worldwide.”
Starting with its last round of investment, led by Japanese travel giant H.I.S., KKday has been deepening its partnerships with strategic investors.
Earlier this July, KKday announced financing from Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund and launched a flagship store under Fliggy, Alibaba Group’s travel portal in China.
