Taiwanese travel startup aims to dominate Asia with fresh funding

Photo credit: Nick Kenrick .

KKday, a Taiwanese travel ecommerce platform, announced today that it has raised US$4.5 million in series A funding to help accelerate its Asia-focused expansion plans. The round is led by AppWorks Ventures with participation by 91Capital.

As oil prices continue to dwindle and the US dollar remains strong, international travelers are finding more bang for their buck in cheap destinations across Asia.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimates international tourists to increase by 43 million people every year, eventually reaching a mind-boggling 1.8 billion by 2030. Emerging economy destinations are predicted to grow at an average rate of 4.4 percent, double that of advanced economies where arrivals are set to increase by 2.2 percent. And Asia stands to profit the most. The study suggests tourism in the region will outstrip average growth in the rest of the world, with a projected number of 535 million visitors by 2030.

The scale of this opportunity certainly isn’t escaping companies that provide unique travel experiences.

KKday is a site that connects travelers with local tour operators. According to a company statement, since its launch in early 2015, KKday has provided 5,000 unique travel experiences and generated revenues of US$914,000* in January 2016 alone. The startup primarily concentrates on destinations in Asia, with the likes of Bangkok, Tokyo, and Seoul featuring heavily, but also provides options in places like Paris, New York, and Cappadocia. This could be due to the fact that Asian travelers are also an important outbound market, with Chinese consumers alone estimated to have spent US$129 billion in 2013.

The startup has branch offices in Hong Kong and mainland China, with plans to establish offices in Singapore, South Korea, and Japan by April. It says Macau and Malaysia are important growth markets.

KKday claims it recognized that vacation packages provided by traditional travel agencies did not satisfy increasing expectations for unique, personalized, and tailor-made tour experiences. It’s trying to bridge the gap.

“More travelers [are] embracing independent travel. KKday’s services are customer-oriented, satisfying travelers’ expectations of customizing their own trip,” said Jamie Lin, founding partner of AppWorks Ventures, in a truncated statement.

Note: An earlier version of the article referred to a company statement which said it generated revenues of US$914,000 since launch. KKday later clarified that the figure was an error on its part, and is the revenue for the month of January 2016 only.

*Converted from Taiwanese Dollar. US$1=32.8 Taiwanese dollars