Chinese tourism website Woqu.com recently confirmed that the company gained USD20 million investment during its second round of financing.
The investment was led by Tencent and followed by Morningside Ventures.
Founded by former Mangocity president Huang Zhiwen in October 2013, Woqu.com focuses on the American independent travel market. The website was officially launched in April 2014 and its products include American hotels, car rentals, pick-up services, local tours, visas, insurance, and phone cards.
Huang explained that they are attracted by the large tourist numbers potentially visiting North America. In 2012, about 1.4 million Chinese tourists visited America; in 2013, the number was 1.78 million; and in 2014, the number is expected to be over two million. It is a fast-growing market and it can help the start-up company to avoid competition with industry giants by focusing on the American independent travel market.
The company plans to develop a standard model in this marketplace and copy it to other destination countries.
According to Woqu.com, the company may enhance both mobile sectors and the multi-destination independent travel market after this second round of financing.