India's Treebo Hotels has picked up $16.7 million in Series B funding, with the Indian-based investment arm of Germany's Bertelsmann taking part.
Bangalore-based Treebo is a tech-enabled budget hotel chain franchise which is just over a year old and picked up $6 million Series A funding last June. It currently has 125 partner hotels with more than 3,000 rooms in 25 Indian cities.
That round was led by SAIF Partners and Matrix Partners India, both of whom are also involved in the Series B, with Bertelsmann Investments India. (BII).
BII "focuses on early stage, as well as growth stage investments" and the Treebo deal is its first foray into travel and hospitality. German media giant Bertelsmann also has investment funds for Brazil, Asia and digital media and has stakes in more than 100 companies.
One of BII's criteria for investments is a desire to expand internationally, although there are no signs that Treebo is looking to move beyond India.
Instead, it has earmarked the cash to help expand its footprint in India to 450 properties in more than 60 cities over the next 12 months. It is also looking to launch mid-scale and leisure brands.
The tech focus comes in many guises, with an emphasis on helping its hotel partners improve operations - earlier this year it launched "Bumblebee" which it claims is the first tablet-based property management system in the industry.
Treebo's $16.7 million comes a month or so after another budget hotel aggregator, Fab Hotels, reportedly picked up a Series A round worth $8 million.
Requests for confirmation of the Fab deal were not responded to, although the official FabHotels Twitter account posted links to the coverage.
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