China-based online travel services provider Trip.com has formed a corporate venture capital vehicle, DaHe Fortune Cube has reported, citing business data aggregator Qichacha.
Xiecheng Entrepreneurship Investment Company is sized at RMB100m ($14.1m) and will be overseen by Jie ‘Jay’ Shen, the Trip.com vice-president who heads its investment department.
Founded in Hong Kong in 1999, Trip.com was acquired by China-based peer Ctrip (known in Chinese as Xiecheng) in 2017 and has been serving as the latter’s global portal. It also operates travel search engines Skyscanner and Qunar.
Ctrip had already made direct investments in travel-themed startups including airport lounge service provider DragonPass, immigration advisory service Hinabian and assistant robot developer Yunji Technology.
Trip.com also acquired Travix, the Netherlands-based operator of online ticketing platforms CheapTickets and Vliegwinkel, in January 2020, in a bid to expand its presence in the west, according to Teller Report.
