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Singapore-based hotel start-up RedDoorz has raised USD 70 million from investors, including Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten.
The Series C funding round was led by Singapore-based private equity firm Asia Partners and includes South Korea’s Mirae Asset-Naver Growth Fund. The latest funding comes weeks after the start-up’s Series B round led by China’s Qiming Venture Partners.
The consecutive funding rounds showed investors’ growing interest in the budget accommodation business in Southeast Asia. This industry is expected to become a USD 36 billion market by 2025, according to a report by Google and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek.
The newly-pooled funds will be used to expand its operation in Southeast Asia.
RedDoorz vs OYO
The impending expansion of RedDoorz is the company’s attempt to battle against Indian rival OYO, which is backed by SoftBank Group. The latter has pledged to spend USD 200m in the region to put up 25,000 hotels by 2023.
Currently, OYO has 1,260 hotels, while RedDoorz has more than 1,400 listed properties in over 80 cities across Southeast Asia.
The Singapore-based company says it has raised USD 140m since its founding in 2015 and is on its way to becoming a billion-dollar company. Founder and CEO Amit Saberwal wants to become a unicorn by 2022.
