China-based online travel company Tuniu raised $148m in a round co-led by e-commerce company JD.com and Hony Capital, a private equity firm sponsored by conglomerate Legend Holdings, on Monday.
JD and Hony each supplied $50m of the funding, while another online travel service, Ctrip, invested $15m and Tuniu chief operating officer Haifeng Yan $16.5m.
Founded in 2006, Tuniu went public on Nasdaq through a $72m initial public offering in May this year, after securing venture capital from e-commerce company Rakuten, DCM, Temasek, Gobi Partners and Sequoia Capital.
Ctrip invested $15m in the May IPO, and made its latest investment a few days after signing a strategic partnership with Tuniu to enhance collaboration using their shared travel resources.
Dunde Yu, Tuniu’s, chairman and CEO, said: “We are pleased to welcome Hony Capital and JD.com as our new investors. We look forward to cooperating with JD.com in the near future.
“We also expect to deepen our partnership around shared travel resources with Ctrip, one of our existing shareholders, which further increased its holdings in Tuniu through this placement.”