Indonesia-based online travel portal, Traveloka, has bagged US$ 250M in July 2020 in a funding round led by an unnamed global financial institution and several other existing investors, EV Growth being one of them.
Traveloka is a growing technology company that provides flight and hotel booking online service. Their technology enables users to instantly find the cheapest flights and hotels without any additional hidden fee. The startup was founded by ex-Silicon engineers- Albert, Derianto Kusuma, Ferry Unardi in 2012 and is currently operating in over 6 countries.
Since the coronavirus pandemic gripped the entire world, the startup had suffered losses which it aims to balance through the recent capital injection. It has also formed a strategy to adjust to the post-COVID-19 situation for travel by restructuring its focus on domestic and short distance excursions and activities.
The strategies include launching a number of initiatives in a bid to encourage and woo back customers, including flights that arrange COVID-19 tests, flexible open-date coupons for hotels (‘Buy Now Stay Later’), online experiences; flash sale livestreams and a cleanliness initiative with uniform hygiene protocols for vacation accommodation that can be booked through its portal. The company also mentioned that the latest capital booster will also be used to increase efforts and enhance offerings in “chosen priority areas”, what it describes as “a more vigorous and integrated Travel & Lifestyle selection” in key markets. It is also looking forward to expanding its financial services that it offers to its clients.
Unardi, the Traveloka co-founder and CEO, said: “Without a doubt, Traveloka has been profoundly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have experienced the lowest business rate that we have ever seen since our inception. However, we always believed that the company will prevail by rapidly adjusting our strategy, working with our industry and ecosystem partners, as well as continuing to innovate for our users, our ultimate focus. Indonesia and Malaysia are still in the early stage, but they continue to demonstrate promising momentum with strong week-to-week improvement, especially in accommodation with the emergence of shorter distance staycation behavior. We acknowledge that the sector may go through further turbulence as it navigates new waves, but we feel we are prepared to take on the challenge and emerge on the right side of it.”
Traveloka had previously raised around US$ 950M across five funding rounds, starting from 2012. In 2017, it passed unicorn valuation after obtaining US$ 350M from Expedia, which got a minority stake in the startup in return.
Traveloka aims to transform human mobility with technology and experiment with new activities that will create a lasting impression in the markets and industries around them.
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