Klook Receives $225 Million SoftBank Investment in Nod to Tours and Activities

SoftBank Vision Fund is investing $225 million in Hong Kong-based Klook, the largest financing in the global tours and activities sector to-date. This brings Klook’s Series D funding raise to $425 million, and the company’s total raise since inception in 2014 to $521.5 million. Softbank Vision Fund led the round with participation from existing investors Sequoia China, Matrix Partners, TCV, and Our Crowd. Klook would not disclose the valuation basis of the latest round but for certain it fortifies its unicorn status while tours and activities itself gains added legitimacy. Doubting Thomases who are still in two minds about the real size of the sector, the lower prices of local tours and attraction tickets compared with flights or hotels, the discounting by players to win share, the highly fragmented marketplace, may be silenced. The latest deal is also significant as “it is a sign of the times that a startup built in Asia is leading funding for a major global travel industry sector — sayonara Silicon Valley,” said Douglas Quinby, founder and CEO of Arival, who is bringing the tours & activities event to Asia from this year in Bangkok in June. “The $200 million [Series D] raise last year was a milestone. This is a further affirmation of the opportunity in the sector,” said Quinby. “It definitely ups the ante, again, for everyone involved. Other players with regional or global ambitions, such as KKDay and GetYourGuide, will have to raise. TripAdvisor and Expedia will see more