Hong Kong’s TravelFlan raises US$7M in Series A – Press Release
TravelFlan, a Hong Kong-based travel and lifestyle AI digital solution provider, today announced a US$7 million Series A investment led by Sogong PinPoint Kclavis AI Travel Tech Fund (SPK Fund), with the participation of Artesian Capital, Linear Venture, Construction-Radiant Tech Ventures Fund, Hong Kong Government ITVFC Fund, SOSV and its accelerator Chinaccelerator.
“Closing this round will put TravelFlan to a new level of commitment, and to motivate the team to strive more,” said Abel Zhao, CEO and Cofounder of TravelFlan, in a press statement.
“Since we launched our B2B2C-focussed AI digital solutions at the beginning of 2018, we have seen an increasing demand in the region. TravelFlan aims to bring their solutions to a much broader audience and adopt in-depth local strategies to provide more high-quality service to our clients,” he continued.
TravelFlan provides AI chatbot and backend simultaneous auto-update data processor (SADP) services for its clients. Its core solutions include text-based/voice-enabled AI personal concierge, supply chain or inventory management system, big data analytical engine and inventory aggregator/processor.
Currently, the startup is working with industry leaders including China Mobile, Samsung Group, SITA, Hong Kong Airlines and many more to tackle their revenue and customer experience issues.
Travel unicorn Yanolja eyes IPOs for Korea, Singapore units – Maeil Business News Korea
South Korean travel tech unicorn Yanolja is considering to list its local and Singapore business unit over the next two years to gain traction for its global stretch, Maeil Business News Korea reported.
“We are considering listing Yanolja’s subsidiary in Singapore in the overseas market next year or 2021 thanks to the high growth potential in the global market,” said chief executive Lee Su-jin.
“We aim to achieve KRW70 billion (US$60.2 million) in global sales in 2020, more than twice as high as this year’s KRW30 billion.”
In June, the startup raised US$180 million in Series D funding from Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (GIC) and Booking Holdings.
Also Read: Chinaccelerator announces 9 startups in the 16th Demo Day, to bridge China to the world
Electric vehicle startup Rivian gets US$1.3B investment from T.Rowe Price, others – Reuters
US-based electric vehicle startup Rivian announced that it has US$1.3 billion funding round led by fund manager T. Rowe Price, Reuters wrote.
It also included the participation of Amazon, Ford Motor, and BlackRock Inc.
Prior to this announcement, Rivian had raised US$2.2 billion from investors (according to investor website PitchBook) and was valued at an estimated US$5 billion to US$7 billion.
Its total valuation in the wake of the latest investment round was not immediately clear.
ByteDance denies rumours of TikTok stake sales to address US pressure – SCMP
Following an earlier report, Chinese tech giant ByteDance denied that it is currently considering to sell a majority stake in TikTok as an option to deal with mounting pressure from the US over national security and privacy concerns, South China Morning Post reported.
A ByteDance spokesperson said there have been no discussions about any partial or full sale of TikTok, calling the rumours “completely meritless.”
The platform has been coming under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators recently. Last month, the US government launched a national security review of ByteDance’s US$1 billion acquisition of US social media app Musical.ly.
The US Army also banned the app from government-issued mobile devices this week.
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