Taiwan Tours and Activities Startup KKday Raises $95 Million to Expand in Asia

KKday, a Taipei-based tours-and-activities booking company, announced on Thursday it raised $95 million.

Private equity firm TGVest Capital led the round for the Series C funding. KKDay will use the funds to invest in technology, hiring and growing its footprint in Asia. The company plans to increase its staffing levels by more than 40 percent across its key markets — most notably, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, and Southeast Asia — by 2023 and expand the reach of its booking and inventory management platform rezio.

KKday believes it's well-positioned for growth as dozens of countries on the continent, including Japan, Thailand and Indonesia, have eased travel curbs in recent months. The company, which has 12 offices throughout Asia, said that bookings in Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea this year have already exceeded pre-Covid levels.

"We plan to double down on our current initiatives including partnering with our merchants and (online travel agencies) to digitize their businesses in anticipation of pent-up demand for tourism and travel," said CEO and founder Ming Chen.

The tours and activities sector, hit hard by the pandemic, is expected to make a significant recovery this year. A survey earlier this year revealed travelers intend to spend 31 percent more than usual on attraction tickets in 2022 and close to twice as much on walking tours than in the past.