UBTour, a destination activities provider in China targeting the Southeast Asian market, has received tens of millions of yuan in its A-round financing this June. The financing, led by Cash Capital and backed by Shanghai SpringWater Venture and PreAngel Capital, will be used for building up its supply end, platform optimization and technology upgrades. UBTour has completed the RMB 10 million Pre-A round in October last year.
UBTour focuses on B2B tourism in Southeast Asia while providing SaaS services to businesses in China.
UBTour connects suppliers in Southeast Asia and enterprises in China with technology and services. It controls the supply chain by exploring the needs of suppliers. The rationale of its product and services is based on the immature services available in Southeast Asia and the lack of a direct and complete connection between the overseas tourism markets and China’s tourism market. As China’s travelers used to convenient service in China can’t find the same level of service supported by information integration, product standardization, mobile adoption, customer service and risk protection when they travel overseas, and the lack of integration makes it hard to quickly identify the right match for their needs, UBTour’s platform is able to bridge the gap.
UBTour’s founder Weiwei Sun said: “Destination products and services is the third end in the tourism sector in addition to air tickets and hotels. By enabling resources owners and service providers overseas with technology, UBTour is able to tap into all links of the supply chain and converge all aspects to enhance user experience.”
In the distribution end, UBTour serves three groups of customers: OTAs, businesses+ tourists, and businesses + businesses. In addition to companies with long-term travel needs, UBTour, as a service platform, can provide relatively stable and accurate upstream resources for customer-oriented platforms like Ctrip and help them promote outbound travel products overseas on the supply chain. This is how UBTour makes money.
Currently, UBTour is providing services through its website and WeChat account, supported by a team of 50 people, and nearly half of them are technical staff. In exploring the supply end, UBTour will review suppliers’ qualifications through field investigation to identify mutual interests to develop. In other words, UBTour is a platform primarily built based on the needs of the supply end.
UBTour expects to launch overseas branches later this year in Southeast Asian countries as well as in Japan, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and South Korea, while updating the existing products. Also, it will shift the strategic focus from hotel booking business to other sectors. Mr. Sun expects the company will break even within one year from now on.
