Hong Kong-based AI digital solution startup TravelFlan has landed an additional $7 million in funding.
This latest investment, a Series A round, brings the company's total funding to date to more than $9.9 million.
SPK AI Travel Tech Fund (which was founded by Lazard Korea) led the round, with participation from Linear Venture China, Radiant Venture Hong Kong, ITVSC Fund Hong Kong, SoSV, Chinaccelerator and Artesian Capital.
The company says that it will use the capital to enhance IT development and to expand to new markets throughout Asia Pacific.
Travelflan was founded in 2016 by Abel Zhao, who previously held positions at Travelport and Amadeus, and Kenneth Lee, who has a background in AI and big data.
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In an exclusive interview with PhocusWire, Zhao says that the team “identified quite a bit of a market gap."
“As a traveler myself, and as a service provider, we realized there's quite a bit of things that can be done to improve the industry,” says Zhao.
Its concierge chatbot serves as a travel booking platform that offers recommendations and experiences for users.
After starting as a B2C operation, TravelFlan transitioned to a B2B2C business model in 2018.
“That quickly expanded our customer base from only serving 150,000 in 2016 to now serving almost 30 million customers in total,” says Zhao.
“This year we aim to achieve to serve a total of 50 million customers.”
The startup has more than a dozen partners, including Samsung and China Mobile, with discussions with more than 125 potential partners throughout the region.