The Mamma Secures Series A Investment for 'Matei'

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Matei, the operator of the hotel reservation platform 'HotelEnjoy,' announced on the 22nd that it has secured Series A investment.

This investment involved three parties: NH Investment & Securities, Ascendo Ventures, and Food & Co., Ltd. The investment from NH Investment & Securities was made through the AIP Asset Management fund. The corporate valuation assigned to Matei in this investment is approximately 10 billion KRW.

Matei is a subsidiary of The Mamma (CEO Minsu Kim), which operates the neighborhood mart shopping app 'MaZa.' Established in 2003, Matei has grown its business centered on hotel reservation services. The HotelEnjoy app operated by Matei has grown into a large platform with over one million users.

Although intensified industry competition and the COVID-19 pandemic once worsened its management difficulties, Matei has been steadily undergoing normalization procedures since being acquired by The Mamma at the end of May.

As a result, Matei has been recognized for a corporate value more than three times larger within less than half a year since becoming a subsidiary of The Mamma. This can be interpreted as the business outlook of Matei being re-highlighted as we enter the 'With COVID-19' era. Expectations for various business synergies with The Mamma have also been a factor in increasing Matei's corporate value.

Based on the investment funds secured this time, Matei plans to enhance the quality of its existing hotel reservation services while actively expanding its business. First, it will newly launch the 'Hotel Time Sharing' service, which partners with about 100 hotels nationwide and sells hotel rooms segmented by time slots.

Matei is expected to be the first to sell products that rent hotel rooms only for specific time periods. Matei planned this product with the intention of attracting potential customers who want to use hotels for only certain hours and diversifying hotel revenue. In addition, Matei is drawing up various business expansion blueprints, including starting global business-to-business (B2B) operations within the year.

Kyeongwon Kang, CEO of Matei, said, "By securing this investment during the With COVID-19 period, we can respond faster than other online travel agencies (OTA)." He added, "As a first-generation domestic OTA, we aim to innovate lodging services and will do our best to present more advanced services."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.