LvYue Group announced its several hundred million dollars Series A and A+ round financing led by Tencent, Sequoia China, Baidu Capital and Goldman Sachs, co-invested by Ocean Link, CITIC Trust, Oriza and CAISSA Travel. Fanzhuo Capital acted as financial advisor for both rounds.
Strategically invested by Trip.com and led by Mark Zhang who also serves as president of Qunar, LvYue is an internet travel service provider that integrates hotel management, information technology, trading and procurement, applying innovative internet technologies to traditional hotel industry.
With the concept that ‘every hotel is unique’, LvYue created the boutique travel destination hotel brand “Floral” which integrates local culture into living spaces and provides tourists with unique cultural experiences and uniform branded services in top destinations around the globe.
In 2017, LvYue launched its self-developed XPMS hotel management system to provide full scope of services to various hotels, homestays and inns, including channel management, room inventory management, dynamic pricing, automated cash management and settlement, and data visualization to improve operational efficiency. In 2018, XPMS mobile App was launched, the system has been already put into commercial use with remarkable results.
The company’s official reservation platform, Floral Travel App was also launched in 2018, with key functions of hotel reservation, travel guides, entertainment recommendations, value-added services and travel notes sharing, etc. and offers various customized services.
About: Tencent is an internet service portal offering value-added internet, mobile, telecom, and online advertising services.
Since its establishment in 1998, Tencent has maintained steady growth under its user-oriented operating strategies. It provides value-added internet, mobile and telecom services, as well as online advertising under the strategic goal of providing users with “one-stop online lifestyle services.” Tencent’s leading internet platforms in China – QQ (QQ Instant Messenger), WeChat, QQ.com, QQ Games, Qzone, 3g.QQ.com, SoSo, PaiPai, and Tenpay – aim to address the various needs of internet users, including communication, information, entertainment, e-commerce, and others.
With its R&D staff comprising more than 60% of its employee base, Tencent has obtained patents relating to technologies in various areas such as instant messaging, e-commerce, online payment services, search engine, information security, gaming, and many more. In 2007, Tencent invested more than RMB100 million in setting up the Tencent Research Institute, China’s first internet research institute, with campuses in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. The institute focuses on the self-development of core internet technologies in pursuing its development and innovation goals for the industry.
Tencent was founded in November of 1998. In April 2000, the IDG and PCCW invested a total of $2.2 million dollars in the company. Tencent was listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK) on June 16, 2004.
In September 2013, Tencent’s market valuation rose to $101 billion, and as of November 21, 2013, QQ had 2 billion active users and Wechat had 650 million monthly active users. The numbers of active users for QQ mail, Qzone, Tencent Weibo and QQ news were 274 milion, 626 million, 220 million, and 150 million, respectively.
Tencent’s major competitors include Baidu, Alibaba, and Netease.
Source: Crunchbase
