With $900 Million In Total Funding, Klook Targets Asia’s Travel-Obsessed Millennials And Gen Z

21.02.2024 - 11:05 / forbes.com

As younger, chronically online generations embrace traveling for leisure and consumers in Southeast Asia become wealthier, the decade-old online travel agency Klook–cofounded by Eric Gnock Fah, an honoree of the 2017 Forbes Asia 30 under 30 list–secured $210 million in a recent Series E+ funding round.

With an average user age of 27 to 35, Klook has become the “go-to travel brand” for millennials and Gen Z across Asia, says Ethan Lin, cofounder and CEO of Klook, in an interview from the company’s headquarters in Hong Kong. “We are their first touch point when they're going out,” he says.

To fuel its expansion, Klook announced in December it raised $210 million in a Series E+ round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from billionaire Jean Salata’s EQT Private Capital Asia and Atinum Investment, a backer of billionaire Seo Jung-jin’s Celltrion. Also participating were prominent Southeast Asian firms, including Krungsri Finnovate, the fintech arm of Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya; SMIC SG Holdings, controlled by the billionaire Sy siblings in the Phillipines; Shanghai-based Golden Vision Capital, founded by Jackson Wijaya of the Indonesian billionaire family behind Sinar Mars; and Kasikornbank Financial Conglomerate, controlled by Thai billionaire Banthoon Lamsam and his family.

“People need a place to go and find out what to do in life, and that's what our brand recall is.”

The Series E+ round, which included bank facilities from Citi, JPMorgan and HSBC, brought Klook’s total funding raised to over $900 million. Klook declined to disclose its latest valuation and whether it plans to IPO, but claims its revenue tripled compared to 2019, and it became profitable for the first time in 2023. Previously, in 2018, Klook became one of Hong Kong’s rare startup unicorns, on the back of a $200 million funding round that valued Klook at over $1 billion.

“Asia is one of the largest experience travel markets globally,” Bryan Wu, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, wrote in an email statement. “Once online booking penetration continues to rise, Klook as the category leader is best positioned to grow and become a strong next-generation travel platform.”

The Series E+ capital will go towardsproduct innovation, social and digital marketing, and integrating generative AI across its website and app. Klook says it will use Google Cloud’s AI capabilities to automate translations for 10 languages, enhance its customer service chatbot K.Ai, and generate written content, such as short-form descriptions for activities.

Klook, short for “keep looking,” allows its users to book activities, tours and transportation. Cofounded in 2014 by Fah, Lin and CTO Bernie Xiaokang Xiong, Klook currently offers over 530,000