Mounsey, an internet travel company tapping the markets in lower-tier cities in China, said on June 15 that it has received RMB 50 million (USD 7 million) in its series A round financing backed by N5Captial. The proceeds of this round will be used to upgrade Mounsey’s R2B2C digital system connecting its stores across the country and recruiting talent.
Tao Wang, co-founder of Mounsey, said that the company’s funding progress has not slowed down despite the pandemic. Mounsey initiated the round last December and received the capital in April even when Covid-19 was wreaking havoc around the world.
Mounsey was founded in 2018, and its core team members have years of work experience operating offline travel agencies, OTAs and internet companies. They also have extensive know-how in attraction operation, planning itineraries and travel agency franchise management.
The company’s R2B2C system is a tourism resource transaction platform which helps establish connections between suppliers and distribution channels and enables the digitization of fragmented travel resources. The platform currently offers more than 100,000 tour routes and over 100,000 tourism products from more than 5,000 core suppliers.
Mounsey claims that it has opened 2,500 branded outlets in China within one year, and plans to have more than 10,000 outlets in three years.
Mounsey said its costs are mainly from its investments in technologies, with one-third of the company's total 60 employees are working at the IT department. It generates income primarily from the franchise management fees and commissions for the time being.
For the second half of this year, Mounsey plans to add 1,000 to 1,500 stores and establish subsidiaries in major cities of all provinces in mainland China to expand its distribution channels in lower-tier cities.
