Klook

Klook Travel Technology Limited (Klook) is an online marketplace and internet booking engine which provides online travel booking services, including sightseeing tours, adventures, shows, train tickets, Wi-Fi / sim cards, and food-themed tours. [1] According to co-founder Eric Gnock Fah, Klook (which stands for 'Keep Looking') is a one-stop-shop for travellers to explore and book a curated list of fun things to do. The company aims to “revolutionise the lengthy, tedious process of itinerary planning into an efficient, hassle-free experience while offering exclusive deals up to 50% off and ensuring all travel picks are carefully verified”.[2]

History

2014

Klook was founded in 2014 after co-founders Eric Gnock Fah and Ethan Lin, both former investment bankers based in Hong Kong, went travelling around Nepal in 2013 and were frustrated at the amount of currency they had to have with them, as almost everything had to be paid for in cash - "while we had spent a lot of time doing the research and planning the trip, there was no magic button to make the transactions more convenient and hassle-free,” said Gnock Fah. That experience gave them both the idea to create an online platform where travellers could book and pay for activities in advance. Gnock Fah and Lin then set about finding a software engineer, and, after getting in contact with Bernie Xiaokang Xiong through LinkedIn, the three of them founded Klook in September 2014. Hong Kong-based Xiong serves as Klook’s Chief Technology Officer, Gnock Fah is Chief Operating Officer, and Lin is CEO.[3]

2015

By 2015 Klook was operating in 21 destinations in Asia and had two regional offices in Shenzhen and Taipei. It already offered more than 1,000 carefully handpicked experiences and had a user base of over 200,000, with bookings growing 10 times quarter on quarter. [4]

Klook also launched its mobile app in March 2015, which was then featured on the Apple iTunes store across 14 countries and regions in Asia. It proved a pivotal moment for the company: it was on the iTunes store that one of Klook’s early investors, Zhuyan Li, vice president of Matrix Partners China, spotted the app and contacted Klook looking to invest.[5]

2017

By the end of 2017, Klook had raised $90 million from major investment groups such as Sequoia, Matrix Partners, and Goldman Sachs.[6] At this point, Klook had formed direct partnerships with more than 3,000 travel activities providers and also offered an SaaS solution for those providers, making easier booking possible through instant confirmation and real-time availability. Klook by this stage was also very much mobile-centric, making last-minute booking and instant confirmation possible, allowing them to tap into the spontaneous travellers who prefer booking travel services in-destination.[7]

Once these funds were cleared, Klook used the funds to accelerate their global expansion for inbound and outbound Asia travel with three key priorities;

1. Building up travel activities supply to meet the growing demand of Asian travellers going long-haul to North America, Europe, and Australia
2. Marketing and introducing Klook’s Asian destinations to visitors from North America, Europe, and Australia, aiming to see growing demand for major international events attracting travellers worldwide to Asia, including the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
3. Further investments in travel technology to help service travellers in the destination and the application of machine learning to facilitate smarter search with visual and voice capabilities.[8]

2018

2018 was Klook's first triple digit year of growth of gross revenue, with revenue amounting to around $1 billion.[9]

With an understanding of the benefits of building its networks and offerings in order to create a travel eco-system, in December 2018, Klook signed a partnership with Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts to provide digital concierge services to guests in Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Singapore.[10]

2019

The company has already raised over $521 million from investors, including Goldman Sachs, Matrix Partners and Sequoia Capital China. Its latest funding round—$225 million led by SoftBank Vision Fund in April—valued the company at over $1 billion.[11]

Klook is already expanding in Europe, with offices in Amsterdam, Barcelona and London, and COO Gnock Fah said Klook's great range of services such as car rentals and airport transfers allow it to appeal to a broader group of users outside the Asian market. Asia does remain Klook’s biggest market, however, and roughly 35% of the app’s users come from Greater China, with a focus on outbound travel.[12]