Expedia to Invest $350 Million in Indonesia Booking Site Traveloka

Expedia Inc. has invested a $350 million minority investment as part of a yet-to-be-announced fund-raising for Indonesian online travel agency Traveloka.

The companies will "cooperate on hotel supply" and share expertise.

The news was first reported by The Information and confirmed in a public statement by Expedia hours later.

The five-year-old Traveloka has raised about $500 million within the last year.

It previously received two funding rounds, one seed round led by East Ventures and one by Global Founders Capital, and retailer JD.com.

The company is in Southeast Asian markets but is most heavily advertising in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, in particular. The privately held firm does not disclose revenues.

It has partnerships with airlines and hotel groups across Asia, taking between 10 and 15 percent commissions on the reservation revenue.

Other Southeast Asian players include Priceline Group’s Agoda and Tiket.

Expedia has invested in the region before, as GeekWire notes. In 2011 it invested in a joint-venture with Malaysian budget airline AirAsia, and in 2015 Expedia boosted that AirAsia stake to three-quarters' ownership.

Traveloka chief executive Ferry Unardi has credited his company's success to being co-founded by people with engineering, instead of marketing and banking backgrounds.

Unardi, a Harvard Business School dropout who is only 29 years old, should expect to get a lot more marketing, as well as engineering, clout, with Expedia's investment.

Here's a video of Unardi from 2014 talking about his startup journey.