Klook, a Hong Kong-headquartered travel activities platform, announced that it has raised USD 225 million in a Series D+ financing round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund, bringing the total sum raised in the company’s Series D round to USD 425 million.
The new capital will be used to continue expanding in existing Asian markets such as Japan, Klook said in the press release.
Founded in 2014, Klook has raised over USD 520 million from a long list of investors like Sequoia Capital, Softbank Vision Fund, Matrix Partners, Goldman Sachs, and TCV. It is now one of the most-funded startups in the tour and activities industry and says that it has a team of more than 1,000 personnel and over 20 offices worldwide. It also has over 80,000 offerings in more than 250 destinations.
Against an extremely fragmented industry with competition from KKDay, Viator, Traveloka, and even AirBnB, Klook is determined to continue to grow by focusing on its mobile-first strategy. Klook’s trip bookings on mobile devices in 2018 accounted for over 75% of total bookings.
Klook announced the appointment of Wilfred Fan as its first Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) in February, tasked with leading expansion plans. The travel activities platform is just one of many startups in Asia to receive large-ticket investments from SoftBank’s Vision fund. Masayoshi Son’s investment empire also includes ride-hailing platforms Grab and Didi, e-commerce platform Tokopedia, and many others.
Editor: Nadine Freischlad