Rich Barton, founder of Expedia, has confirmed his involvement in a Series C funding round for Mafengwo, a China-based travel-focused social network.
Barton told Tnooz:
"Ultimately, China will be the largest market of travelers in the world. Mafengwo has a killer product for Chinese travelers and is growing rapidly. I'm really pleased to be a shareholder."
Other investors in the Series C are named as Hillhouse Capital, Cobuilder, Coatue and Qiming Venture Partners.
(Although a Coatue spokesman declined to comment).
No financial details have been disclosed, although reports in China are talking in terms of $100m in total.
Mafengwo raised $15m Series B cash in April 2013.
Some stats in reports from China about Mafengwo include:
- 2014 revenues of RMB900 million (US$145 million) from services including advertisement and hotel bookings
- 80 million registered users with monthly active users of over 60 million
- 16 m reviews added every month