Indonesia’s NIDA Rooms secures $4.2m from Convergence, Cyber Agent

Photo by NIDA Rooms

By Antonia Timmerman

April 28, 2016

Indonesia-based budget hotels reservation startup Nida Rooms has secured $4.2 million in a pre-series A funding round led by two Asian venture capital firms, Convergence Ventures and CyberAgent Ventures. The round was facilitated by independent advisor Emergebridge.

Nida Rooms was launched in December last year as a solution to the fragmented budget hotel industry in Southeast Asia, giving travelers uniformity of service at competitive rates. It currently has presence in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia, with more than 3,100 rooms online.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nida Rooms Kaneswaran Avili said the funds will be used to further develop its business in the country, as well as expanding marketshare in the Southeast Asia. He said the company is planning to expand into Vietnam and South America.

“The signing of this agreement is an important milestone for the company’s future development plan, as Nida Rooms is now embarking on the second phase in fulfilling its promises to our hotel partners and consumers by generating bookings and revenues,” Avili said in a statement.

Meanwhile, director of CyberAgent Venture Steven Vanada said that budget travel is a multi-billion dollar industry with massive room for growth and a huge potential.

“Having watched how the LCC business model has generated tremendous profit over the last decade, we believe that the same will happen to the budget travel sector, which makes it a very strategic investment for us,” said Vanada.

NIDA Rooms has partnered with over 1,000 hotels located in various cities in Indonesia and aims to have 2,000 hotel partners by year-end. In total, NIDA Rooms has partnerships with over 3,500 hotels spread across Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines. By the end of 2016, it aims to increase partnerships to 7,500.

The company has recently appointed Justin Cohen as its newest member of board directors. Cohen, bringing with him years of experience from numerous tech companies such as 90min.com, J Squared, NEC Computers, PartyGaming and HomeGuru,  will be responsible for NIDA Rooms’ digital business development.

Also Read:

Indonesian budget hotel Tinggal raises $1m funding from India-based Wudstay’s CEO, Mangrove Capital, others

Indian online travel biggies delist, spin off budget hotels into separate business

Singapore: Budget hotel platform RedDoorz raises pre-Series A funds from Jungle Ventures

Rocket Internet debuts beauty & wellness startup Vaniday in Asia via Singapore

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

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