China-based online travel booking platform Yaochufa has raised RMB 550m ($85m) in a series D round that included travel agency Beijing UTour International Travel Service, China Travel News reported yesterday.
UTour was joined by China Capital Management, which operates as a subsidiary of state-owned investment firm Citic Holdings, and Tongchuang Jinding Investment Management.
Founded in 2011, Yaochufa operates an online travel booking service that specialises in local package holidays and tours. It covers around 50 destinations across southern, eastern and northern China, Hong Kong and Macao.
UTour’s investment was made as part of a partnership agreement signed in January that will involve the companies sharing resources and loyalty scheme memberships. UTour will assist Yaochufa in expanding its range of destinations, with international breaks set to be included.
Yaochufa received an undisclosed amount of series A funding from venture capital fund Innovation Works in 2011, before securing $8m in 2013 from Innovation Works and Vertex Venture Holdings, a VC subsidiary of Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek.
Vertex and Innovation Works subsequently returned to take part in a $35m series C round in 2014 that also included Sequoia Capital and Tiantu Capital.