Singapore hotel booking platform raises $70 mln to build Vietnam tech hub

The company’s second funding round this year was led by Singapore private equity firm Asia Partners and included Japan’s Rakuten Capital and South Korea’s Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, a joint venture between Mirae Financial Group and Naver Corporation.

The company said in a statement it would use the funds to build its second technology hub in Vietnam to support an existing one in India besides expanding to new markets, investing in technology and user experience, and boost hotel staff training.

RedDoorz also said it plans to hire more hotel staff as well as raise the number of professional training programs in all of its markets, which are Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

The firm had raised $45 million in a series B round in April, led by Chinese venture capital firm Qiming Venture Partners. It has raised a total of $140 million since being founded in 2015.

RedDoorz is a platform offering budget accommodations across key business and tourist destinations in Southeast Asia. It is present in more than 50 major cities and has more than 1,000 partner hotels. The company plans to double that count by the end of this year and increase it to 15,000 in Southeast Asia by 2022, Chief Executive and Founder Amit Saberwal told Reuters.

The firm entered Vietnam in October 2018 and now operates over 100 hotels, 80 of them in Ho Chi Minh City.