Hotels aggregator QiK Stay secures $250K in seed round

Hotels aggregator QiK Rooms Pvt Ltd, which operates under the QiK Stay brand, has secured seed funding of $250,000 (Rs 1.62 crore) from venture capital firm I.D. Enablers Pvt Ltd, according to a press release.

The transaction was closed in August.

The Delhi-based startup, which earlier operated under the ZoZo Stay brand, is looking to use the funds for expansion. It has tied up with about 30 hotels in Delhi, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Kanpur and Lucknow. It also has a hotel in Nepal under its brand.

The startup aggregates affordable luxury hotels and was founded in June this year by Jasveer Singh along with a group of hospitality experts. The company has launched its website and Android app and is looking to roll out its iOS and Windows apps.

"Unlike our competitors who are aggregating all sorts of hotels, lodges, etc, we only hand-pick very few premium hotels at prime locations," Singh said. "This will not only help us eventually grow as a trusted service provider, but will also let the customers make a trouble-free choice."

QiK Stay competes with the likes of Oyo Rooms and Zo Rooms, which is a part of Zostel, among others. All these companies follow an asset-light model wherein they do not own the properties themselves but tie-up with hotel owners and market the rooms under their own brand.

OYO Rooms, which is one of the largest players in the hotels aggregation segment, recently raised $100 million in funding from Japanese internet conglomerate SoftBank and others. It plans to use this money to expand its network to 50,000 rooms across 100 cities by the end of this year.