Octopus, the China-based travel services platform, has received RMB600m ($95m) in series C funding from investors including tourism and investment firm Tempus Group, China Money Network reported today.
Ant Financial, the financial services affiliate of e-commerce group Alibaba, and CCB International, an investment services subsidiary of financial services firm China Construction Bank, also participated in the round.
Founded in 2012 and also known as Ba Zhua Yu Online, Octopus runs a peer-to-peer platform that offers services such as domestic and international travel, ticketing and vehicle rental to travel and tourism industry partners.
The company has branches across more than 80 Chinese cities and uses artificial intelligence to help build itineraries. It intends to use Ant Financial’s online payment services and ticket booking and tourism capabilities to help build its business.
SBCVC, a subsidiary of telecommunications firm SoftBank, joined private equity fund Vision Knight Capital and Jiayu Fund to invest an eight-figure dollar amount reported by China Money Network to be $25m in Octopus in 2013.
The company has not publicly disclosed any additional funding between 2013 and the series C round.