Mr. Liang Yang, CEO of Chinese meeting venue booking service Huixiaoer (“会小二”), announced on March 22 that the online startup has completed its B-round funding with tens of millions of US dollars, a record sum raised in the MICE market. The round of investments was led by DCM Ventures and was joined by IDG Capital Partners. The money will be invested in its expansion and improving user experience.
The lead investor DCM Ventures has previously made successful investments in Vipshop (“唯品会”), 58.com (“58同城”) and Fenxiang Xiaoke (“纷享销客”). Co-founder of DCM China and general partner Hurst Lin will be appointed board director of Huixiaoer. IDG Capital, which was also the sole investor in the Huixiaoer’s A-round funding (undisclosed amount), has coughed up a larger sum for the latest B round than the previous round.
Mr. Yang said the company attracted funding due to high customer retention thanks to the company’s reputation and the thriving MICE market.
The company received its A round funding from IDG Capital in August 2014 and has since upgraded its service from finding meeting venue for customers to becoming a mobile assistant for hotels marketing their meeting services.
In June 2015, the company launched a Uber-style C2B mobile tool allowing hotel meeting venues to go after booking orders from customers. The solution helps lower costs and reduce time in meeting arrangements and streamline management process.
A report from ibaogao.com suggests that tens of millions of meetings or conferences are held in China each year and the promising market is worth about a trillion RMB.
Besides Huixiaoer, there are also other venue booking service companies that are doing well in the MICE market. Meeting venue booking platform EventTown established in May 2007 is reported to have completed a hundred-of-million yuan funding round in March 2015, and the company has switched from B2B model to B2B2C model after its acquisition of EventDove in the same year. Conference venue search platform HotelGG founded in May 2012 is also eyeing hotel meeting venue reservation. The company completed its B-round funding with USD 20 million in August 2015.
The booming MICE market has attracted attention from many OTAs that hold substantial hotel resources. Online booking platforms such as Ctrip, Qunar and Tuniu have rolled out their own hotel meeting venue booking service one after another. (Translated by Jerry)
