Online travel startup Yododo has received a Series B financing round from Indonesian media corporation MNC Group, CEO Waner Miao said without disclosing the amount. Yododo is a travel website established in 2006. It got first breakthrough with a multi-million RMB Series A financing in 2013.
MNC Media Investment Ltd (MMIL) is MNC Group’s Australia-listed overseas investment arm with interests in media, entertainment, mobile games and social ecommerce companies spanning China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
Yododo is enjoying high growth currently - its annual sales rate has grown over 50% and it had over six million registered users by 2014.
Yododo completed its online-offline service loop by getting into offline business operating Yododo Inn guesthouses last November, and linking up its online community with its booking platform and guesthouse chain. After four months of intensive promotion, it has already added 14 owned or partnered boutique guesthouses to its portfolio in Zhejiang, Yunnan, Shanxi and Hunan. At the same time it has put together a top management team of well-known guesthouse management experts and investors.
Yododo will use this latest funding to accelerate the development of the Yododo Inn brand in China and Southeast Asia by promoting an individualistic culture, personalized services and providing guests with a “home away from home”. Replicating such successful implementation of O2O models for future products will be the biggest challenge for Yododo as it plans to leverage equity financing to speed up growth while avoiding taking on heavy assets. (Translation by David)
