China-based home rental platform Tujia.com has raised $300m in series D funding from investors including online travel agency Ctrip, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
Investment fund All-Stars Investment led the round, which included serviced apartment manager The Ascott and undisclosed existing investors, according to people familiar with the situation. It valued Tujia at $1bn.
Often described as ‘China’s Airbnb’, Tujia’s platform enables users to rent out their homes to visitors who book online. It provides verification photos, and makes an effort to inspect the listed properties.
The company currently offers more than 300,000 homes across 255 Chinese cities, as well as 133 international locations where it is assisted by US-based holiday home rental marketplace Homeaway, which is also an investor in Tujia.
Tujia plans to establish international branches this year, with Thailand and Taiwan set to be among the first.
The round brought Tujia’s overall funding to approximately $464m, including $100m in a June 2014 series C round funded by undisclosed investors.
Ctrip, Homeaway and venture capital firms Lightspeed Venture Partners, GGV Capital, CDH Ventures, Qiming Venture Partners and CBC Capital had previously invested a combined $64m in the company over two rounds in 2012 and 2013.
China Renaissance acted as advisor to Tujia on the round.