Airbnb Rival Xiaozhu Raises $120 Million: Travel Startup Funding This Week

Each week we round up travel startups that have recently received or announced funding. The total raised this week was more than $201 million.

Earlier this week, GetYourGuide, the tours and activities marketplace, raised a $75 million round led by Battery Ventures, as the company shifted the emphasis of its pitch from striving to be the largest database of activities to becoming a mobile travel companion that offers recommendations based on deep tech.

Also earlier this week, China’s largest online travel agent, Ctrip, bought Trip.com, a startup formerly known as Gogobot and that had raised $39 million. The companies did not disclose the terms.

>>Xiaozhu, the Chinese home-sharing site, has received $120 million in funding. Yunfeng Capital, run by famous investor Jack Ma, led the investment. Joy Capital, Morningside Ventures, and Capital Today also participated in the Series E round.

The funding placed a more than $1 billion valuation on the company. Founded in 2012, the startup raised about $265 million, to date.

Unlike local rival Tujia.com, which focuses on professionally managed properties, the Beijing-based startup is more like the original peer-to-peer short-term rental model that Airbnb pioneered.

Kelvin Chen Chi, Xiaozhu.com’s chief executive and co-founder last November, told ChinaTravelNews that the marketplace is not yet profitable but will probably turn a profit next year.

Bloomberg reported earlier this year that a year ago Airbnb held meetings to acquire Xiaozhu but supposedly dropped the idea because the site’s average properties lacked high-end appeal.

>>Criton Apps, which makes mobile apps for hotels and serviced apartments, has raised a $6.5 million investment. The name of the private investor was not disclosed.

Criton said that its software moves all guest-facing information on to a mobile app, which combines destination guides with guest and property management information, geo-fenced, or location-based promotions, and messaging.

Julie Grieve, founder and CEO of Criton Apps, said: “We believe the future of travel and hospitality tech is on the guest’s own device, where they can use their own phone or tablet to check-in, access their room, and operate in-room appliances using the power of the Internet of Things.”

Criton runs out of CodeBase incubator in Edinburgh and the TravelTech Lab working space in London. It has six employees.

Check out our previous startup funding roundups, here.