Popular Chinese travel site Mafengwo secures US$250mn in funding

Mafengwo, a travel website that has roused considerable interest among China’s younger generations, has announced that it secured US$250mn in its Tencent-led funding round.

In its press release, Mafengwo said the funding will support the consolidation of its position in China’s tourism industry, and noted that the financing itself is emblematic of its considerable position in the online travel community.

Having launched in 2010, Mafengwo has grown to become the largest online travel community in China.

Its hotel reservation service opened in 2015, with the firm stating that it is continually seeking to create a closed cycle of service that spans from community to ecommerce and from content to transaction.

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"Nowadays, Mafengwo has become the leader of new tourism e-commerce when online travel market has scaled up to trillion milestone," said Haifeng Lin, Tencent’s Investment and Management Partner, in Mafengwo’s statement.

"By virtue of the content accumulated over ten years and the extremely strong techniques and innovation capabilities, Mafengwo has developed a successful model in the field of content e-commerce. 

“We are pleased to support the continued rapid growth of Mafengwo's business through this round of investment. And we will fully leverage Tencent's content resources to assist Mafengwo in accomplishing a new leap forward."

Gang Chen, Co-Founder and CEO of Mafengwo, added:

"It has always been our mission to realize everyone's travel dream. This latest round of funding will enable us to bring more high-quality travel intelligence and efficiency to Chinese travelers when it comes to making well-informed travel decisions. 

“It can also help us create better travel experiences for our consumers by offering them more creative ideas and plans."