TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's travel e-commerce platform KKday announced on Wednesday (Dec. 5) that it has raised approximately NT$2.27 billion (US$70 million) in funding to fuel its expansion in the Asia-Pacific market.
The platform plans to focus on four key strategies. These include forming strategic alliances, attracting top talent in the Asia-Pacific region, leveraging AI travel technology, and launching a brand revitalization initiative, per Yahoo stock.
Founder and CEO Chen Ming-ming (陳明明) noted that Japan remains the top overseas destination for tourists across Asia. KKday’s market data shows that travel to Japan makes up 30% of outbound travel from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea, and over 20% from Singapore and Southeast Asia.
In August, KKday partnered with Japan’s leading accommodation platform, Jalan, adding nearly 10,000 local lodging options. It also collaborated with the popular restaurant booking platform Tabelog, offering over 42,000 dining options to ease language barriers and booking challenges.
These Japanese online platform partnerships have allowed KKday to offer more than 350,000 global product offerings. KKday is expanding its software development team and has established tech hubs in Taiwan and Japan to further enhance its technological capabilities
The company has also created an AI travel technology team to focus on content generation, search optimization, and customer service automation. KKday plans to improve its personalized recommendation model and develop a real-time itinerary adjustment feature, using AI to better meet traveler needs and enhance the overall trip planning experience.
This round of financing was supported by investors, including Cool Japan Fund, the National Development Fund, ZUU & De Capital Fund, Chang Hwa Bank Venture Capital, and Darwin Venture Management.
