Short-term rental startup Travelio lands US$2mil funding

• Round led by Gobi Partners, with two Chinese angels taking part too
• Its accommodations range from apartments and villas, to houses and hostels

JAKARTA-based online short‐term home rental startup Travelio said it has raised US$2 million in a pre‐Series A round led by Shanghai-based venture capital (VC) firm Gobi Partners.
 
Also participating was Singaporean VC firm Anthill Ventures, as well as new investors which included an unidentified “senior executive from property conglomerate Kuok Group,” it said in a statement.
 
They were joined by China‐based angel investors Zhenzhen Sun, partner at Proxima Ventures; and Tian Gu, chief executive officer Travel+Leisure Magazine.
 
“As integration narrows the gap between digital and ‘real’ economies, companies like Travelio will be able to discover new ways to provide value to both businesses and consumers,” said cofounder and chief strategy and marketing officer Christina Suriadjaja.
 
“As such, we are excited to bring on both hospitality experts and VC firms as our partners to help us take our business to the next level,” she added.
 
Travelio raised undisclosed initial funding last year as a supporting subsidiary of public-listed Indonesian construction and property firm PT Surya Semesta Internusa Tbk.
 
Travelio offers accommodations ranging from apartments and villas, to houses and hostels. As of this month, the Travelio site hosts 12,000 accommodation options across the Asia Pacific region, the company claimed.
 
The new round of funding will be used mainly to expand its presence in the Indonesian market, increase its accommodation inventory across all destination markets, and attract more users to the platform.
 
Travelio also plans to bring on additional staff to make this possible, with an emphasis on technology and product experts, it said in its statement.
 
“Travelio offers a unique combination of a Priceline‐like negotiation model with Tujia‐style non-traditional hotel accommodations,” said Gobi Partners’ Kay-Mok Ku.
 
“We believe that its business model captures the confluence of two disruptive trends – gamification when engaging consumers; and supply‐side sharing economy, where short‐term rental turns apartments into hotels,” he added.
 
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