Indonesia Investment Authority (INA), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, has signed a $300-million financing facility with online travel agent Traveloka, according to a press statement on Thursday. BlackRock, Allianz Global Investors, Orion Capital Asia were among the other investors who joined the financing round.
DealStreetAsia reported in June that INA was in talks to join Traveloka’s financing round.
Private credit major Blackrock has led the financing round, per a statement. We had also reported that on Traveloka’s talks with Blackrock in June.
The financing will be used to support the digital ecosystem’s growth in the travel sector. “Supporting the travel sector with their unparalleled convenience and access, online travel agencies (OTAs) have further transformed the industry landscape during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Ridha Wirakusumah, INA’s CEO said. “For example, OTAs have seen their share of Indonesia’s gross tourism booking increase from 24% pre pandemic to 33% in 2021 with an expectation to reach 36% by 2024,”
“This financing allows us an opportunity to further strengthen our balance sheet and enable us to continue to focus on our core business while also building for the future,” Ferry Unardi, Traveloka’s CEO and Co-founder added.
According to DealStreetAsia’s DATA VANTAGE platform, Traveloka has so far raised more than $862 million from investors including Expedia Group Inc, Rocket Internet, East Ventures, Li’s FWD Group Ltd. and Singapore’s wealth fund GIC.
The travel unicorn was reportedly exploring a traditional initial public offering (IPO) in the United States this year after the SPAC merger plan fell through.
Unlike its Indonesia-listed tech counterparts such as GoTo and Bukalapak, Singapore-registered Traveloka does not stand to benefit from a lower capital gains tax by listing in Indonesia first before an overseas listing.
Traveloka was set to raise funding at a valuation of $4 billion before the COVID-19 crisis struck, according to an industry executive who spoke to DealStreetAsia earlier. The company found its valuation dropping to $2.75 billion in subsequent negotiations with potential investors.