Myrealtrip is the latest travel technology company to lead a booming travel industry post-pandemic. The Seoul-based startup said today that it has raised $56.7 million (KRW 75.6 billion) in a Series F equity funding round to accelerate its business and product innovation and increase hiring.
Global tourism has recovered to pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter of 2023, according to a recent UN World Tourism Organization report. Travel tech companies are once again gearing up to accelerate their business expansion.
“The travel industry was fragmented 12 years ago in South Korea and there was no platform that provided travel information,” said Myrealtrip CEO Donggun Lee in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch. Now, the 12-year-old company, which has 7.9 million users in South Korea, aims to be a super app in the travel industry, offering travel booking services ranging from flights, accommodations, activities, to local transportation.
The company has partnered with approximately 2,000 travel agencies, hotel platforms and airline comparison service providers such as Expedia, Agoda and Viator to enable travelers to book tours, activities, restaurants, local transport, hotels and accommodation similar to Airbnb worldwide.
Its valuation has increased 3x since its last Series D funding in 2020, Lee told TechCrunch, without providing an exact number. The company’s valuation was estimated at more than 200 billion KRW in 2020, per previous media reports.
Lee also said that Myrealtrip had seen its revenue grow threefold by 2022. The company had a gross merchandise volume (GMV) of $746 million (KRW 1 trillion) in 2023. It aims to double its GMV and generate EBITDA of $12 million this year, Lee noted.
Image Credits: Myrealtrip
Like most travel companies, the Korean startup faced challenges during the pandemic lockdown. The company says it could survive on the capital it secured in 2020 and debt financing in 2022 in preparation for post-pandemic.
“Myrealtrip prioritized domestic tourism and launched new features such as a group trip or business travel to survive the past two difficult years,” Lee said.
The company not only expanded its domestic tourism but also made several acquisitions and strategic investments. Myrealtrip acquired Start in 2022 to record the number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea after the pandemic. This travel platform allows users to discover and book Korean pop (K-pop) themed places, including popular boy band BTS music video shooting locations. Lee said he plans to operate Startrip as a separate entity to enhance its services with advanced technology.
Myrealtrip also invested in IwaTrip, a Korean travel platform that helps users find available spots to travel with children, and O-Peace, a co-working and living space platform designed for digital nomad workers.
The technology will be key to its long-term success in attracting inbound and outbound travel users as well as foreign tourists to take on rivals such as SoftBank-backed Klook, which raised $210 million last month. Yanolja? Agoda? and Airbnb.
Lee said the company, which uses AI chatbots for customer service, will invest more in technology, including AI capabilities, ahead of its planned initial public offering in 2026.
Returning investors BlueRun Ventures Korea and IMM Investment co-led the round, which brings its total proceeds to approximately $113 million (KRW 150 billion) in equity and $39 million in debt since its inception in 2012. New investors Korelya Capital , marking its first investment in South Korea, and Vanderbilt University’s endowment fund and previous backers including Altos Ventures, Partech Partners, Smilegate and SV Investment also joined the Series F.
The company employs 300 workers as of today.
