RedDoorz raises pre-Series B round of US$11 million as part of growth in Southeast Asia

RedDoorz, Southeast Asia's leading online budget hotel booking chain with a presence in Indonesia, Singapore and The Philippines, announces its successful fundraise of US$11 million. Headquartered in Singapore, the pre-Series B round comes as an additional investment from Asia Investment Fund of Sushquehanna International Group, International Finance Corporation (private investment arm of World Bank Group), InnoVen Capital, Jungle Ventures, who have invested in past rounds – along with new investors DeepSky Capital, FengHe Group and Hendale Capital and other investors.

Amit Saberwal, Founder & CEO, RedDoorz said, "The scale of the Southeast Asia opportunity is mind-boggling. A lot of people don't know that. Our aim has always been to tap into Southeast Asia's US$52 billion travel market, which is largely comprised of budget hotels rated three stars or below. We target to go up the value chain and offer the best predictable stay experience for our users across the region."

The additional funds will go towards RedDoorz's aggressive regional expansion and strengthen its leading position in Southeast Asia's online hotel budget marketplace. Launched in 2015, RedDoorz has expanded rapidly garnering over 500 properties and servicing over 700,000 stayed room nights thus far in the region. The brand is present in over 16 cities in Indonesia itself with over 3,000 hotel rooms on its platform and has a team strength close to 180 people.

Towards the end of 2016, RedDoorz had raised an unannounced US$5 million Series A round that was led by the Asia Investment Fund of Susquehanna International Group (SIG), International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investment arm of the World Bank Group, and Jungle Ventures. Massive interest in this round can be attributed to RedDoorz's deep market penetration, strong execution and comprehensive expansion strategy.

"We at FengHe are very familiar with the space RedDoorz is in and have seen similar hospitality models flourish in the past in China. We are very confident in the foresight and growth that RedDoorz has spotted, most notably the potential to disrupt the budget segment in the hospitality industry in Southeast Asia. This is most promising as they continue their impressive growth in the Southeast Asia region," said John Wu, Founding Partner and Group Chairman, FengHe Group.

Geoff Lee, Partner, Hendale Capital commented, "We are delighted to partner with RedDoorz to provide capital to support its already impressive growth trajectory. We believe that the Southeast Asia consumer empowerment trend is very compelling and that RedDoorz' has a tremendous opportunity to aggregate hotel inventory across the region using proprietary technology and business model innovation. Amit Saberwal and his team are leaders in this category and we look forward to working with them to execute RedDoorz' strategy."

Anurag Srivastava, Managing Partner at Jungle Ventures shared, "We have been believers in the opportunities that the RedDoorz has sought out for and always given our full support of the team led by Amit from our first investment round. We will continue to remain excited as the brand grows through their successful execution and journey to becoming the market leader in providing standardised high-quality accommodation for middle-class travellers across Southeast Asia."

RedDoorz has recently launched their first fully-leased and operated hotel property in Singapore. The 65-room property, now called RedDoorz near Marine Parade, is aligned with RedDoorz's long-term strategy to grow deeper in the hospitality value chain. With this new initiative, RedDoorz will have full reign over the day-to-day operations of establishments, who subscribe to this model, and intends to improve the consumer experience and have a better repeat rate.

"We have so far been growing the franchise and marketer model in all markets. With the infusion of these funds, we will now tap into the fully leased out and operated model. With the right team, right set of investors and the right market opportunity, we are certain that we will be able to grow exponentially in this region and drive up our existing 65% customer repeat rate. We plan to have onboard 100 such fully leased properties and 1,000 franchise properties in this region in the next 18 months," Amit Saberwal further added.

The first RedDoorz leased property is a colonial shophouse – neatly tucked along East Coast Road in Singapore and a stone's throw away from the popular East Coast Park. The 65-room hotel displays styles and interiors resembling a Peranakan ambience paying tribute to the area's rich heritage embedded with Peranakan history during Singapore's colonial period. Famous local eateries, old and new, surround the hotel - with many bustling bars livening the Katong stretch in the night. Guests can also easily access to nearby shopping areas including Parkway Parade and I12 Katong - with convenient bus services taking them to the heart of Singapore's iconic shopping street, Orchard Road.

With a strong international team on-the-ground coming with diverse backgrounds and deep knowledge of the local travel and hospitality sector, RedDoorz runs a full operations unit ranging from customer service, operations and product sales to branding, finance and marketing. RedDoorz has developed its own proprietary technology using data analytics to accurately forecasts demand on areas that could have more hotels or properties to drive more footfall for travellers.

About RedDoorz

RedDoorz is Southeast Asia's largest and fastest-growing, technology-driven hotel management company offering affordable accommodations for everyone. With a vision to enable people to travel more and provide affordable, reliable stays in all major cities and destinations across the region, RedDoorz is disrupting the hospitality industry by transforming the fragmented supply inventory into branded, standardized accommodations and leveraging its strong technology platform to drive consumer demand. The firm's new multi-brand approach is aimed to cater to the different needs of travellers, be it RedDoorz Budget (economy budget), SANS Hotels (economy lifestyle), KoolKost (extended-stay community living) and Sunerra Hotels (midscale hotel segment).

Founded in 2015, the company has grown into a regional powerhouse with operations in Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam. RedDoorz is transforming how people travel and live in Southeast Asia by providing an ecosystem of accommodation products backed by distinct brands, world-class technology and local operations expertise.

For more information, please visit www.reddoorz.com.
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