Hotel group LvYue, a strategic investment arm of Trip.com (earlier known as Ctrip Group), has raised an undisclosed amount in its Series A and A+ round led by Tencent, Sequoia Capital, Baidu Capital and Goldman Sachs, according to an announcement.
The round also saw the participation of Ocean Link, Citic Trust, Oriza Holdings and Caissa Travel. The deal size is understood to be over $100 million, per its statement.
Fanzhuo Capital acted as the financial advisor and facilitated the transaction.
LvYue, that believes in the concept of ‘every hotel is unique’, is an internet travel service provider led by Mark Zhang. It innovates internet technologies to transform the traditional hotel industry, thereby integrating hotel management, IT and trading and procurement.
Established in 2016, LvYue is currently present in 10 countries in countries such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand and India.
Going forward, by the end of this year, it expects its network to exceed 2,600 hotels from the current number of 1,900 hotels.
The funding raised will help the company spruce up its innovations and ramp up its self-dependent e-platforms besides building its brand marketing and accelerating its expansion in India and beyond.
For the uninitiated, LvYue Group made a foray into India earlier this year and is currently operating out of Dehi-NCR. It is said to be scouting for properties in the northern part of the country in a bid to expand its operation.
“Goldman Sachs has a positive outlook for both China and global travel destination markets, and will support LvYue to further expand its business throughout China and abroad,” said Stephanie Hui, managing director and co-head of principal investment area at Goldman Sachs in Asia Pacific, in a statement.
LvYue operates as many as six subsidiaries that cover luxury to economy hotels. Its brands are Flora (boutique holiday resorts), Vyluk (mid-scale hotels), Urba (mid-range city hotels), Suoxing (hotels meant for the cost-conscious traveller), Suoxing (which offers a choice for modern mid-scale properties) and BeU (that is an economy business hotel).
