Asian Hotel App HotelQuickly Secures $4.5 Million in Funding from Rival

Last-minute hotel booking app HotelQuickly, with a presence in a dozen countries in Asia Pacific, secured $4.5 million in a Series A-1 financing round led by a now-former competitor with a fledgling, rival app.

Social-gaming company GREE, which recently debuted its Tonight hotel-booking app in Japan, led the financing round of HotelQuickly with participation by William Heinecke, CEO of Thailand's Minor International.

HotelQuickly, which launched its app in March 2013, states it has 150,000 registered users, and now has total funding of "more than $5.5 million, plans to accelerate product development, and ramp up marketing and sales in Asia Pacific.

The funding deal punctuates a new partnership between HotelQuickly and GREE.

“HotelQuickly has expanded at a phenomenal pace this past year to emerge as the clear leader in last-minute bookings in Asia-Pacific with more than 3,000 partner hotels and 100 destinations,” claims Eiji Araki, a GREE board member. “This is a great opportunity for GREE to take part in that growth story, while teaming up with the world-class talent at HotelQuickly to accelerate our own entry to this space."

"Our two companies share a mobile-first approach, so this partnership is a natural fit," Araki adds. "I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together.”