Taiwan-based KKday secures $4.5m Series A for Asia expansion

By Elaine Huang

March 17, 2016

Taiwan-based tour marketplace KKday has raised $4.5 million in a Series A round led by AppWorks Ventures, a venture capital firm in Taiwan, and saw participation from 91Capital, a corporate investment arm.

The funds will be used to help the company expand across Asia, with Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia being likely destinations.

The tour marketplace, which connects travellers with meaningful travel activities, claims to cover 53 cities, including New York, Paris, Hong Kong and Bangkok. Users can also post a review of their experience after participating in the listed tours.

There are a number of companies addressing the travel activity market in Asia, like Japan-based Voyagin which was acquired by Rakuten; Singapore-based BeMyGuest; and Vietnam-based Triip.

KKday founder and CEO Ming Chen is also a travel veteran, having founded eztravel.com.tw in 2000, which was later bought by Ctrip Inc, a Chinese travel agency. In 2003, he then founded startravel.com.tw, which went public a few years later.

KKday has branch offices in Hong Kong and China, and is looking to hire in Singapore, South Korea and Japan next month. At the moment, it claims to have 100 employees on its payroll.

Also Read:

Gobi Partners cuts first deal in Vietnam, invests $500K in tour startup Triip.me

Travelstart secures $40m funding from Amadeus Capital, partners MTN

Israeli firm TravelersBox secures $10m Series A led by Arbor Ventures

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
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Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
APPLY NOW