Luxury Travel Portal Secures Funds for Growth and Expansion in Booming Asian Travel Industry
SINGAPORE, Aug. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Members-only, luxury travel booking portal, TheLuxeNomad.com, has secured SGD 888,232 of new funding -- an auspicious step -- to both strengthen the company's lead in the Asian travel market and support its regional expansion plans. The fundraising round was led by Innosight Ventures, the venture arm of global innovation and strategy consulting firm, Innosight, with participation from Japanese investors, Zipan Enterprise Network, and a private investor.
Launched in July 2012, TheLuxeNomad.com entered the USD 554 billion Asian travel market with the innovative concept of offering flash sales and best available rates for luxury hotels, resorts and villas.
Founded by model-turned-entrepreneur, Stephanie Chai, the site appoints celebrities and known personalities to review partner hotels and destinations. Leveraging off the aspirational nature of celebrity travels, the celebrity quotient of the site has helped the start-up garner sizeable publicity which in turn aided in its swift brand build-up.
The additional financial backing will allow TheLuxeNomad.com to expand its team and hotel inventory across the region, as well as invest in technology to innovate and transform the way people plan and book their holidays.
Stephanie Chai, CEO of TheLuxeNomad.com, says, "Our growth, given the financial constraints we faced as a young start-up, can be credited to our ability as a team to produce innovative, win-win solutions to build our hotel listings and database. The result a year on is a successful, lean and cohesive business that has achieved strong earnings and that is still growing at a gaining momentum."
"Not only have we provided our members and consumers with quality deals of good value, we are also now seen as an important tool for hotel revenue managers in a long term strategy to increase occupancy rates in their hotels and resorts."
Piyush Chaplot, VP of Innosight Ventures, reveals, "TheLuxeNomad.com is a smart solution to challenges in the supply and demand side of the travel industry. With flash sales, hotels are able to offload unsold inventory to the site's private, membership-only database. At the same time, TheLuxeNomad.com solves the issue of information overload found on many other travel sites by adding a much-needed personalised touch with its curated list of properties."
"One of my recurring business goals has always been to try and bridge the gap between Japan and the rest of Asia. The innovative concept behind TheLuxeNomad.com is set to modernize the travel industry in Asia," expresses Zen Yamamoto, CEO of Zipan Enterprise Network. "Japan is one of Asia's strongest performers with a predicted double-digit growth rates for its outbound travel this year. This fact coupled with the increasing popularity of Japan as a destination for Asian travellers is why we believe our investment in TheLuxeNomad.com can play a pivotal role in inspiring travel between Japan and the rest of Asia. "
About TheLuxeNomad.com
TheLuxeNomad.com is an exclusive members-only site that offers Flash Sales and 24/7 Best Available Rates of luxury hotels and resorts. Flash sales offer discounts of up to 70 percent and membership is free.
The site displays a curated list of stunning properties with personalized editorial content from the team and selected celebrity "nomads on-the-go". Celebrity Nomads include Taiwanese actor Godfrey Gao, Miss Malaysia Universe 2011, Deborah Henry and Hong Kong supermodel Jocelyn Luko.
The site is run by Singapore-based, Luxe Nomad Private Limited -- a team of passionate travellers with diverse backgrounds ranging from Investment Banking, Law to Linguistics. Luxe Nomad Pte Ltd also maintains offices in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. Visit the site at www.theluxenomad.com.
About Stephanie Chai, CEO of TheLuxeNomad.com
New-Zealand-born Eurasian Stephanie Chai, first began her entrepreneurial career in 2009 when she founded the regional wedding portal, WeddingGuideAsia.com. Since its inception, the site has attracted over 300,000 readers a year, and has had partnerships with HELLO! Singapore and MSN Malaysia. A graduate in Finance and International Business from the University of Auckland, TheLuxeNomad.com represents Stephanie's latest venture into the business of travel -- her personal take to inspire people to travel without breaking the bank.
A former model and host for broadcast programmes across Singapore and Malaysia, Stephanie currently resides in Singapore, managing her time between the regional offices of TheLuxeNomad.com.
About Innosight Ventures
Innosight Ventures is the venture investing arm of Innosight, a global innovation and strategy consulting firm, co-founded by Harvard Professor and innovation thought-leader, Clayton Christensen, in 2000. Singapore-based Innosight Ventures identifies ventures that fit the patterns of Disruptive Innovation and supports them with funding and strategic assistance. To read more, visit www.innosightventures.com.
About Zipan Enterprise Network
Japanese-owned Zipan Enterprise Network is run by young entrepreneur, Zen Yamamoto, who is the third generation descendent of the Yamamoto family of Zipan Group, which runs a number of Toyota dealerships in Kyoto. Having managed brand development strategy at Toyota and Lexus Headquarters (USA), Zen has steered his company to expand outside of Japan and venture into diverse industries and fast-growing enterprises in South East Asia.
For more information and high-resolution images, please contact:
Bless Inc. Asia Private Limited
Karen Chen
+65-6694-5590
+65-9835-0249
karen@blessinc.net
Daryl Dee Teo
+65-6570-2707
+65-9670-1646
dee@blessinc.net
