Rakuten Travel, the online agency arm of Japan's e-commerce giant Rakuten, has acquired majority ownership of Voyagin, a consumer-focused tours-and-activities startup headquartered in Singapore.
Terms of the deal were not revealed. But the startup has received at least $3.48 million in investment prior to the acquisition, according to TechinAsia.
Rakuten Travel is one of the largest online travel agencies in Japan.
Voyagin launched in 2012 with a Vayable-style model of letting locals and other non-professional tour guides offer tours.
Since then, it has increasingly begun to service standard tour operators as well as museums and other attractions. Today it claims an inventory of about 1,800 tours and to have served 30,000 customers.
To date it has appealed mostly to Japanese customers traveling in more than eight countries and regions in Asia-Pacific, exluding China. But it serves travelers worldwide.
The startup's first round had investors in Japan. The second round had a Singapore investor.
Its investors include Jungle Ventures, Digital Garage, Rakuten in a previous round, plus many angels. A Japanese government grant helped to fund the initial version of the startup, FINDJPN.