Corporate Travel Startup Huilianyi Raises $42M Amid Industry Turmoil

Huilianyi, a business travel platform, notched approximately $42 million in fundraising as China begins a possible economic renewal amid the global coronavirus pandemic, Phocuswire reported.

Huaxing Capital subsidiary Huaxing New Economic Fund headed up the Series C+ round.

Huilianyi was started in 2016 and is a software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based system for travel expense reimbursement. A Huaxing Capital official called the company “an absolute leader in the industry,” per a translated statement. The company has millions of active users in different firms, such as Tencent and Didi Chuxing.

The investment money will be used to grow into new markets, such as the United States.

Blue Lake Capital, Zhonglin Capital and SoftBank China, which have invested in the company before, also reportedly invested in the round.

A Zhonglin Capital official said, per the announcement, “In the connected era, we are optimistic that business travel and expense management platforms have become standard applications for enterprises.”

Fueled by funding in the past, Huilianyi grew into Malaysia and Singapore in 2018, and then into Japan last year.

In separate news, Fenbeitong, a Chinese business expense management firm, closed a $36 million Series B+ round led by Glade Brook Capital, Ribbit Capital and Eight Roads.

Other participants included BitRock Capital as well as current shareholders CreditEase Industry Fund, China Growth Capital and IDG Capital.

In July, the company notched $12.36 million in a Bojiang Capital-led Series B. Fenbeitong has brought in $57.7 million to date, per the report.

Fenbeitong, which was started in 2015 by Xi Lan, created a business wallet app that let people pay, manage and get reimbursement for business costs.

Fenbeitong brought about a virtual card function and rolled out two subsidiaries for enterprise services and corporate travel with funding in the past.

The new funds will help grow the company’s workforce with more research and development workers and toward more optimization of the product.