STARTUP OF THE WEEK
How it all began
Three travel nerds, a 50-square-meter office in Hong Kong and one simple question:
Why is it so hard to book great experiences once you are already at your destination?
From that question came Klook in 2014, short for “Keep Looking.”
What Klook does
Instead of flights and hotels, Klook focuses on these topics:
🌋 Theme parks in Japan
⛵ Island hopping in Southeast Asia
🚆 Train and event tickets worldwide
➡️ Hundreds of thousands of activities in one app
The next step
An IPO in New York (planned ticker: KLK).
The timing and story align well. The Asian travel market is booming and Klook has already become the main entry point for experiences across the region.
📊 The numbers (2024)
Gross transaction volume 2024: about 2.5 billion USD
Revenue 2024: around 417 million USD
More than 1 billion USD in total funding, including from SoftBank, Sequoia and Goldman Sachs
The China Survival Guide for Western Businesses
Entity setup, WeChat strategy, hiring your first local team. 12+ years on the ground in Shanghai.
