Chinese outbound tours and activities specialist Haiwan has picked up "tens of millions of dollars" in Series B funding.
The round was led by Tiantu Capital with Sequoia Capital, Source Code Capital and Zhiping Capital of China also involved. Sequoia and Source Code Capital are existing investors, having put $5 million into the business in a Series A round in October 2013.
Haiwan.com focuses on sourcing in-destination inventory for Chinese international travellers. It does not get involved in selling flights, accommodation or group tours.
CEO Michael Sun said that Haiwan.com was serving a new generation of Chinese travellers looking for an authentic experience. “Tourists can discover art in Brooklyn, gourmet meals in Paris and helicopter tours in Queenstown,” he said.
Haiwan.com has grown to 5000 products in 40 countries within 18 months of launch, The Series B cash has been earmarked to help it open and staff 20 satellite offices around the globe in key target destinations. It said this will cost more than RMB200 million ($32 million)
Haiwan.com deals directly with suppliers and has set the ambitious target of having 30,000 products available on its site.
It is an online-only business but does have an offline customer service for its clients. Revenues for haiwan.com are currently coming in at around RMB30 million ($4.8 million) a month, with mobile accounting for just over one-third of all sales.
The business also has a commercial relationship with Qunar, which sells Haiwan,com products on its site as part of its entry into the destination product market. Talks with Ctrip about supplying it with inventory are also under way.