Led · Equity · Apr 2024

Bizplay provides corporate travel and expense solutions with a focus on business travel services and expense management for enterprise customers. The company aims to develop its business-travel and cost-management offerings and grow its user base through strategic partnerships. Bizplay has pursued strategic investors to strengthen its market position, including a recent investment from Yanolja and an earlier agreement with JB Financial Group. Through the Yanolja partnership, Bizplay will integrate Yanolja’s infrastructure, content, and travel products into its business-travel service. Company leaders say the collaborations are intended to raise customer satisfaction and create synergies in corporate travel offerings.

Led · Equity · Jul 2018

ZEN Rooms operates a budget and mid-range hotel franchise across Southeast Asia, offering operational and technological solutions to help independent hotels increase revenue and reduce costs. Its services include franchise management, technology, automation, training and other operational support aimed at improving hygiene, safety and customer experience. ZEN has franchised 13,000 rooms across the region and by Q2 2019 was the #1 hotel chain in the Philippines with 5,500 rooms. Since Yanolja's mid‑2018 investment, ZEN's revenues grew 400%. The company plans to use the new funding and alliance to deploy automation, IoT R&D, hardware and software to further lower hotels' operating costs and enhance traveler experiences. Founded in 2015 by Kiren Tanna and Nathan Boublil, ZEN positions itself to professionalize the fragmented economy hotel sector in Southeast Asia. Zen Rooms operates a budget-hotel franchise model that guarantees minimum standards (WiFi, fresh towels, hot showers, etc.) and uses a mobile app to manage quality and bookings. The company manages the Zen Rooms brand for hotels and helps them access customers via internet distribution. It is active in six cities across Southeast Asia and claims roughly 1,000 hotel franchisees with an inventory of more than 7,000 rooms; it previously ran operations in Brazil, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. Zen Rooms had raised $8 million to date, including a $4.1 million Series A last April, but a major funding deal of over $10 million collapsed in Q1 2018 and depleted its runway, forcing cutbacks. After closing the new strategic investment, the company has been hiring again and says it now has capital to invest. Zen Rooms plans to focus on five Southeast Asian markets and may expand to Vietnam. Zen Rooms operates a network of partner budget hotels across Southeast Asia, offering a booking platform that guarantees standards such as free Wi‑Fi, working air conditioning, clean towels and a concierge smartphone app. It typically signs hotels on a revenue-share model and also operates about 30 full properties for which it takes full inventory ownership. The company covers roughly 1,000 hotel partners in the region and employs around 100 staff. Zen Rooms focuses on Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore, and also lists hotels in Brazil, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong. Co‑founder and global MD Nathan Boublil said the company has attracted attention from traditional hotel groups and plans regional expansion into Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. Boublil did not disclose specific revenue or booking metrics publicly. The company plans to pursue a Series B toward the end of the year.