BeMyGuest to accelerate Asia growth with Series A funding

Latest cash influx brings total funding to date to $8.5m Continue reading →

Online travel firm BeMyGuest is to accelerate growth across Asia after finalising a Series A round of funding.

The latest cash influx led by Raffles Venture Partners and technology investor Mr Koh Boon Hwee with his group of investors brings total equity funding to date to S$11.5 million ($8.5 million).

Spring Seeds Capital, the investment subsidiary of Spring Singapore, Singapore’s largest and most established group of travel agencies Chan Brothers Group, and investors from the travel industry Meng Xiong Kuok and Leland Kwee also participated in the round.

A switch in focus to its B2B business last year has resulted in the company being on track to reach a target of S$100 million ($72 million) in sales through existing and new partnerships with many of the largest B2C travel companies.

This comes as it moves to serve the highly complex Asian market.

BeMyGuest claims 500 strategic distribution partnerships including Ctrip, Ticket Monster, Tink Labs, Yatra, Tuniu, Alitrip and Travel.jp, connecting the largest industry players in the highest growth markets across China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, India with 4,500 suppliers of 25,000 activities, attractions, day tours, ground transfers and events in more than 900 destinations.

The firm has also established BeMyGuest Labs, a platform where suppliers and resellers can leverage BeMyGuest’s distribution network through a range of travel technology solutions.

Chief operating officer and company co-founder, Blanca Menchaca, said: “BeMyGuest’s mission has always been to create the largest platform of tours, activities and attractions across Asia, this round will enable our team to continue with their relentless innovation for the sector.”

Chan Brothers Group managing director Anthony Chan said: “By investing in BeMyGuest, we continue to develop and expand our travel ecosystem alongside capturing different market segments, as we move towards the future of travel that is more efficient and accessible to our customers.”

BeMyGuest chief executive and founder Clement Wong said: “This Series A is an affirmation of our vision and validation of our business model.

“We are certain that the quality of our technology, content and customer service will take us through the next phase of growth with an extremely robust partnerships pipeline going live in 2017 and beyond.”

Yap Ning Jee, of Raffles Venture Partners, added: “The upfront commitment to build a solid scalable digital platform has put BeMyGuest in the front seat for Asian online tour and travel activities. We are pleased to support and be involved in this exciting journey with BeMyGuest.“

Koh Boon Hwee said: “BeMyGuest has proven themselves through successfully becoming the largest aggregator of Asian attractions, tours and activities content, and their continued track record in hyper scaling the B2B business. We are confident of the team cementing its position as the category leader.”