LvYue, a boutique hotel brand spun off by China-based travel services firm Trip.com, has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors including internet groups Tencent and Baidu.
The amount incorporated money raised in series A and A-plus rounds co-led by Tencent and Baidu subsidiary Baidu Capital with investment banking firm Goldman Sachs and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.
Travel agency Caissa Travel, Ocean Link, Citic Trust and Oriza Holdings filled out the round’s participants while Fanzhuo Capital was financial adviser on the deals.
Formed in 2016, LvYue manages a range of sepcialist hotels, also providing software that helps hotels manage their business more efficiently, helping with functions such as hotel management and organisation, procurement and reservations.
The company oversees several subsidiaries that each cater to a different section of the holiday market. It operates in 10 countries including Japan, India, South Korea and Thailand, and aims to grow its customer base from about 1,900 hotels to 2,600 in the short term.
Jay Shen, head of Trip.com’s investment department, said: “As LvYue’s strategic investor, we have strong faith in its future development. Trip.com will keep supporting LvYue in providing great travel experience.”
The funding will be used for marketing, research and development and international expansion, particularly in India where it set up an office earlier this year.
