After letting go of numerous employees in April, Indonesian travel-tech giant Traveloka has confirmed to have raised US$250 million in a new funding round from a host of investors, including East Ventures.
The confirmation comes three weeks after Bloomberg reported that the Indonesian firm was in advanced talks with investors, including Siam Commercial Bank, FWD Group, GIC, and East Ventures, to raise US$250 million at about US$2.75 billion valuation — roughly 17 per cent less than its most recent fundraising.
The new capital is expected to further strengthen the Indonesian firm’s balance sheet and boost its efforts to deepen its offerings in select priority areas, Traveloka said in a statement.
The plans will include building a more robust and integrated travel & lifestyle portfolio in key markets, as well as expanding its financial services solutions to better support ecosystem partners.
Ferry Unardi, Co-founder and CEO of Traveloka said in a statement: “I am happy to share that on the business front, we are seeing encouraging recovery across all of our key markets. Our business in Vietnam is approaching steady pre-COVID-19 levels and Thailand business is on its way to surpassing 50 per cent.”
“Indonesia and Malaysia are still in the early stage, but they continue to demonstrate promising momentum with strong week-to-week improvement, especially in accommodation with the emergence of shorter distance staycation behaviour. We acknowledge that the sector may go through further turbulence as it navigates new waves, but we feel we are prepared to take on the challenge and emerge on the right side of it,” he added.
Also Read: Innovate and go: How Traveloka revamps its services to comply with changing travel behaviour
According to the company, the COVID-19 crisis has put the travel sector in an unprecedented challenging state. Since the pandemic broke, the restrictions on travel and many other activities to curb the spread of the virus around the globe inevitably created a potent combination of stricken demand and travel disruption.
Traveloka also witnessed a historic drop in business activity to levels never seen before. Its partners across transport, accommodation, activities, and dining also experienced significant disruption to their business — there was feeble demand for transportation with the contrasting escalation of refund requests; hotels saw the lowest occupancy ever; several domestic and regional activities and dining partners chose to shut their doors temporarily due to high uncertainty.
“Without a doubt, Traveloka has been profoundly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have experienced the lowest business rate that we have ever seen since our inception. However, we always believed that the company will prevail by rapidly adjusting our strategy, working with our industry and ecosystem partners, as well as continuing to innovate for our users, our ultimate focus,” Unardi added.
Traveloka has reportedly implemented necessary business optimisation measures to conserve capital and refocused its effort to prepare for effective action in the new normal.
For example, in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, the firm has seen a resurgence of domestic, short-distance travel and activities bookings as the population learn to live responsibly with the pandemic.
Also Read: KiotViet gets US$6M Series A funding from Jungle Ventures, Traveloka, eyeing expansion
In an interview with e27, Andhini Putri, Head of Marketing, Transport, Traveloka says that despite the impact caused by the virus, it is always important to identify customer pain points and try to solve them.
Domestic travel in Indonesia has already resumed and the company’s goal is to seize this opportunity even further –by providing ease and convenience of access to the mandatory travel requirements set by the government.
Some initiatives launched to cater to shifting demands included COVID-19 test bundle with flights, a flexible open-dated voucher for hotels in Buy Now Stay Later, and Traveloka Clean campaign, allowing users additional peace of mind when booking via Traveloka.
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