Amit Saberwal, Founder and CEO of RedDoorz. — Photo courtesy of RedDoorz
RedDoorz, the Southeast Asia’s hotel management and booking platform, announced it has raised US$70 million at first close of a larger Series C funding on Monday.
Leading the round is Asia Partners, a Singapore-based growth equity firm founded by senior executives with an exceptional track record in scaling multi-billion tech companies (Sea, Naspers, Bukalapak) globally and across the region. RedDoorz is the first portfolio company of Asia Partners, which focuses on growth-stage investments in technology and technology-enabled companies in Southeast Asia.
Two other leading funds, Rakuten Capital and Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, joined the round. Existing investors Qiming Venture Partners and International Finance Corporation (IFC) also reiterated their support by taking part.
The start-up’s Series C investment follows shortly after RedDoorz announced its Series B funding of $45 million in April 2019. The new funding brings the total amount raised to around $140 million since its launch in 2015. RedDoorz is now among the best-funded start-ups in Singapore and, specifically, is the best funded company in its category of online affordable accommodations across Southeast Asia.
“We are thrilled to welcome a new group of seasoned investors joining us in our mission to build the leading tech-enabled affordable travel brand in Southeast Asia,” said Amit Saberwal, Founder and CEO of RedDoorz.
“RedDoorz operates in some of the most dynamic markets in the world and we see tremendous opportunities to continue growing our platform and expanding into new markets.”
RedDoorz will use the new funds to launch in new markets and scale technology, customer experience projects, people and marketing investments to further strengthen its leadership position. A significant portion of the latest proceeds will be used to build a second engineering hub in Viet Nam which will complement the current regional tech hub based out of India.
The company also plans to ramp up its hotel staff and quality training programmes across all properties in Singapore, Indonesia, Viet Nam and the Philippines as it helps employ approximately 10,000 people across the region through its hotel partners.
The company entered Viet Nam a year ago, and currently has systems in place in 100 hotels across six cities nationwide. It now employs more than 100 people and has 100 partners in the six cities, including HCM City, Ha Noi, Da Nang, Vung Tau, Nha Trang and Da Lat. — VNS