Nida Rooms raises $4.2m to battle Rocket Internet for Southeast Asia’s budget travelers

Indonesia-headquartered Nida Rooms announced today that it has secured US$4.2 million in a "pre-series A" funding round. The majority of the investment was provided by Convergence Ventures and CyberAgent Ventures at a valuation of "around US$11 million."

The startup, which launched in December, was earlier funded to the tune of US$1.5 million in its seed round.

No point increasing footprint without depth in any markets.

Nida Rooms is similar to well-funded Indian startup Oyorooms in the sense that it's trying to solve the fragmented nature of the budget hotel industry in Southeast Asia by giving travelers uniformity of service at competitive rates. It's currently present in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia. It claims to have over 3,100 rooms online.

Kaneswaran Avili, CEO and co-founder of Nida Rooms, says the cash will be used to further expand its business in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. He adds that the team will concentrate on winning the ASEAN markets first – and that it will only enter new markets after gaining a significant foothold in the ones it is currently operating in.

"No point increasing footprint without depth in any markets," explains Kaneswaran.

Hence, unlike direct competitors such as Rocket Internet-backed Zenrooms, which announced the launch of four new markets recently, Nida Rooms is choosing to stay put.

"The signing of this agreement is an important milestone for the company's future development plan, as Nida Rooms is now embarking on the second phase in fulfilling its promises to our hotel partners and consumers by generating bookings and revenues. We aim to increase the hotel partnership to 7,500 by year end while focusing on enhancing the 'value added experience' for our consumers," added Kaneswaran in a statement.

"The Nida Rooms opportunity fit our investment thesis well. They have a strong and experienced team leading the implementation of a new business model developed to address the pain points of cost-conscious travelers around the world," said Adrian Li, managing partner of Convergence Ventures.

Editing by Nadine Freischlad and Steven Millward

(And yes, we're serious about ethics and transparency. More information here.)

Interested in consumer-facing startups, gadgets, and VR. Not necessarily in that order. For story tips and suggestions, contact osman@techinasia.com or Twitter @osman_husain

Source: Nida Rooms raises $4.2m to battle Rocket Internet for Southeast Asia's budget travelers