Hong Kong – Last minute booking app, HotelQuickly, has raised US$4.5 million in a Series A-1 financing led by GREE, Inc., a global mobile social company with businesses that include social gaming, social media, advertising, licensing and merchandising, and venture capital.

William E. Heinecke, CEO and chairman of Thai-based Minor International, participated in the round through his family office.

The investment follows a US$1.15 million Series A round in August 2013, bringing HotelQuickly’s total funds raised to date to more than US$5.5 million.

With the additional capital, HotelQuickly aims to accelerate its product development, marketing, and hiring to drive sales across Asia Pacific, and to secure its lead in the region.

GREE recently launched its own Japan-based last-minute booking service Tonight. Its investment in HotelQuickly forms the basis for a partnership between the two companies to enhance their respective services through personnel exchange, the sharing of technical expertise, and other collaboration.

“HotelQuickly has expanded at a phenomenal pace this past year to emerge as the clear leader in last-minute bookings in Asia Pacific with more than 3,000 partner hotels and 100 destinations,” said Eiji Araki, a board member at GREE, Inc.

“This is a great opportunity for GREE to take part in that growth story, while teaming up with the world-class talent at HotelQuickly to accelerate our own entry to this space. Our two companies share a mobile-first approach, so this partnership is a natural fit. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together.”

Added Heinecke, “We’re seeing a clear shift from online to mobile and as traditional booking channels lose ground, there is tremendous opportunity for a service like HotelQuickly in the Asia Pacific region. HotelQuickly is best positioned to capitalise on this movement. I have faith in the executive management and I’m excited to be backing this adventure together with GREE.”

Tomas Laboutka, HotelQuickly co-founder and CEO said, “We are thrilled to have GREE and Bill Heinecke among our investors. We can benefit a great deal from both of their experience, We will be able to further accelerate thanks to their commitments. HotelQuickly is actively shaping the last-minute hotel booking space in Asia Pacific, and we are excited to embark on the journey ahead of us with confidence that we are in good company.”

Launched in March 2013, HotelQuickly has a customer base of more than 150,000 registered users and 300,000 downloads. It is available in 12 markets and supports English, traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Bahasa Indonesian, and Thai. Source: WIT