Allstay, the Korean travel start-up which was one of the finalists in the WIT Japan Start-Up Pitch, is gunning to become the first and largest mobile travel meta-search in South Korea.
The company has just raised its first round of financing – 500 million KRW (approx. US$430,000) – led by Venture Republic, the operator of largest online travel search site in Japan, Travel.jp, and TideSquare, a leading OTA in South Korea.
This round of funding will be invested in accelerating growth and service development; and as part of the round, Kei Shibata and Kenichi Shibata, co-founders at Venture Republic, and Min Yoon, CEO of TideSquare join Allstay’s board of directors.
Allstay is the first mobile-focused accommodation meta-search service for the South Korean market.
Allstay: Hoping to ride on the wave of changing trends in South Korea
South Korea is one of the world’s most promising online travel markets. Its infrastructure for mobile and web is second to none. Among countries by smartphone penetration, as measured by Google’s Our Mobile Planet, South Korea is at #2 (73%), second only to United Arab Emirates (73.8%). Saudi Arabia is third with 72.8%.
Despite this, there is no dominant travel meta-travel search as yet. Two leading names that dominate the online travel market are Interpark, the e-commerce platform, and HANA Tour, the largest traditional travel agency group that is making aggressive moves online.
The travel market is dominated by big and powerful traditional travel agencies but the market is changing fast. At WIT Japan & North Asia, Hyuk Park, head of planning for Jeju Air, said it was finally happening in Korea – the trend of consumers moving online to buy travel and online travel brands getting traction in the market. Private accommodation such as bed-and-breakfast and guesthouses is also sky-rocketing.
Allstay wants to combine local travel agencies and private accommodation into a mobile driven meta-search engine.
Hyunsoo Cho, co-CEO of Allstay, Sales & Marketing, said “The biggest challenge and differentiation strategy for Allstay is to cover all local OTAs and private accommodations with great user experience on mobile.”
Yongseok Lee, co-CEO of Allstay, Product manager, said, “In product perspective, mobile optimisation is the key to success of travel meta-search. We are experimenting with various functions in the area of content curation and in-house payment for mobile optimisation and it will be our great advantage over other competitors.”
Hyunsoo Cho of Allstay pitching at WIT Japan & North Asia
“We are proud to work with the Allstay team. They share the same mission as ours,” said Kei Shibata, CEO of Venture Republic. “Together with our expertise in the industry, Allstay is ready to address an enormous amount of unfulfilled demand by Korean travelers who are very savvy on mobile and keen to look for diverse options in travel. We are very thrilled with this opportunity.”
“The market potential for Allstay is enormous. Allstay’s product portfolio addresses a significant market need,” said Min Yoon, CEO of TideSquare. ” We believe that Allstay will be able to make even greater waves in the travel and tourism industry. We are delighted to be supporting such an exciting team.”
