Tuniu, a China-based online travel package provider, which can name Japan e-commerce and internet company Rakuten as one of its investors, has raised $60m in a series D funding. The deal was led by Singapore-based investment firm Temasek and US-based venture firm DCM. Existing backers also participated.
Established in 2006, Tuniu.com focuses on domestic and international package tours with its target customer base being middle-class Chinese travellers. Tuniu.com won the first place for China-based online packaged tours in 2012 and is seeing strong growth. It has provided booking services, including tourist visas, for tourism products starting from cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. It has served more than 3 million people to date.
By contrast, competing online travel service companies, such as Ctrip and eLong focus on flights and hotels.
Donald Yu, Chief Executive Officer of Tuniu.com said, after the A round financing by Gobi Partners, B round led by DCM, and C round led by Sequoia Capital, Highland Capital Partners and Rakuten Inc. ($50m), Tuniu.com has caught the eyes of many investors with its achievements and rapid development. The financial details of the A and B rounds were not made public.
In 2013, personnel with senior industrial experience including Conor Yang, former Chief Financial Officer of Dangdang.com, and Zen Tang, former senior executive of Alibaba, have took the offices of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Technology Officer of Tuniu, and they have helped the company establish a mature senior talent system for constructing higher level strategies, according to the company.
Yang said that the new capital obtained from the D round will be mainly used for the expansion and optimisation of leisure travel products, enhancing its technology platform and recruiting of industry talents and promotional campaigns.