RedDoorz’s strategy for success despite Covid-19

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Hello readers,

Up to a year ago, travel had been my escape from living in Singapore. As beautiful as the city is, its sanitized and densely populated spaces often leave me feeling claustrophobic. But with the country’s circuit breaker measures in place, I’ve at last found myself giving more coin to domestic tourism, revisiting the zoo and taking staycations in under-the-radar hotels. Seems I’m not the only one, as one local startup has especially benefited from the latter.

Today we look at:

• RedDoorz’s record revenues amid the pandemic
• Tencent’s US$19.5b profit, fuelled by video games and social media
• Other newsy highlights such as Dream Sports’ backing from early Netflix investor TCV and ByteDance’s new CFO

PREMIUM SUMMARY

The future of tourism is local

With its focus on the travel and tourism space, you wouldn’t have expected Singapore-based hospitality startup RedDoorz to thrive amid the pandemic – and yet it did. The company, which works with hotels to offer budget stays to travelers, didn’t just reduce its burn rate by two-thirds last year; it also posted record revenues.

• Diversified revenue streams: While local customers, which comprise 96% of RedDoorz’s clients, are a contributing factor, other reasons for the company’s success are its 2019 investments in technology and new projects. Last year, much of the company’s income came from its property model, which collects revenue for providing hotel-stay services.
• Positive financials: Not all went well in 2020, however. To boost its bottom line, RedDoorz slashed jobs and imposed temporary furloughs. These, together with some pivots, helped the company’s net revenue grow to US$74.2 million in Q4 2020, up from US$44.5 million during the same period in 2019 – although these numbers are based on preliminary data and subject to change.
• Opening new doorz: As part of RedDoorz’s aim to be the largest hospitality platform in Southeast Asia, the company introduced KoolKost last year, a program that lets customers rent long-stay rooms under flexible leases, and launched a chain of budget-friendly hotels under Sans Hotels. Looking ahead, the company will continue focusing on profitability and sustainable growth by catering to local tourists.

Read more: How hospitality startup RedDoorz saw record revenues despite Covid-19

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

Tencent’s got game

Chinese internet giant Tencent posted a profit of US$19.5 billion – albeit on a non-IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) basis – for the fiscal year ended 2020. Most of it came from its value-added services (VAS) segment that includes virtual offerings such as video games and social media.

Tech in Asia is now 10!