Klook

Klook (legal entities Klook Travel Technology Ltd / Klook Technology Ltd.) is an online travel company headquartered in Hong Kong, with Singapore also cited as a base, that sells reservations and tickets for in-destination travel: tours and activities, tourist attractions, public transport and intercity rail, car rental, and accommodation. It operates a website and mobile apps (iOS and Android) offering instant confirmation, e-vouchers and skip-the-line attraction tickets, plus adjacent products such as eSIMs, travel passes (Klook Pass), event and movie tickets, and a loyalty scheme (Klook Rewards / KlookCash with Gold and Platinum tiers).

The company was founded in September 2014 in Hong Kong by Ethan Lin (Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO) and Eric Gnock Fah (Co-Founder, President and COO); a CNBC interview with Gnock Fah describes the platform being set up in 2014 by three co-founders, none of whom had prior travel-industry backgrounds. The name Klook stands for "Keep Looking". Klook reached unicorn status in 2018 after a US$200 million round valued it above US$1 billion. From 2020 it shifted emphasis from cross-border to domestic travel, moving away from traditional day tours toward bundled "staycations" and expanding mobility products including car rental, with particular focus on South Korea, Taiwan and Australia. Klook says it became cash-flow positive in mid-2023 and reported its first profit around late 2023.

As of its IPO prospectus, the platform featured approximately 310,000 offerings across around 4,200 destinations as of 30 September 2025, with over 65 million experiences booked in the preceding 12 months and approximately 13 million verified reviews. Klook filed for a New York Stock Exchange listing on 10 November 2025 under the proposed ticker KLK, with Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley as lead joint book-runners and a reported target raise of US$300–500 million.

Founding story

Ethan Lin and Eric Gnock Fah founded Klook in Hong Kong in September 2014, with Gnock Fah recalling the platform was set up by three co-founders, none of whom had travel-industry experience. Gnock Fah, who grew up in a Chinese family in Mauritius and previously worked in finance, cited the gap between local and tourist pricing he encountered as an outsider as the motivation for building a platform that gives visitors more options and gives local operators a distribution channel. The founders' stated mission was to bring the world closer together through experiences.

Business model

Klook operates a marketplace connecting travelers with merchants and operators that supply activities, tours, attraction admissions, transport and travel services, distributing that inventory through its website and mobile apps (more than 80% of bookings flow through the app). It also distributes inventory through partner platforms, for example integrating its supply into the Grab ride-hailing app. Consumer-side monetization includes promo codes, bundles and a tiered rewards programme, and the company reported US$417.1 million of revenue for 2024 against gross transaction volume that made it the largest pan-regional experiences platform in APAC by GTV in 2024.

Revenue is generated from bookings of third-party merchant experiences and travel services transacted on Klook's platform and apps, alongside in-app purchases and ancillary travel products. Reported revenue was US$335.2 million in 2023 and US$417.1 million in 2024 (up 24.5%), with US$407.4 million for the first nine months of 2025 and US$540.54 million for the 12 months ended 30 September 2025; the company was loss-making at the group level in that period.

Traction

Klook reported US$3 billion in annualized sales in 2023, nearly triple its 2019 level, with over half a million experiences and travel services in more than 2,300 destinations and over 60 million monthly visitors at that time. Revenue rose from US$335.2 million (2023) to US$417.1 million (2024), and reached US$540.54 million for the 12 months ended 30 September 2025 with a net loss of US$155.1 million. Over 65 million experiences were booked in the 12 months to 30 September 2025. The Android app has surpassed 10 million downloads with a 4.9 rating from about 145,000 reviews; the iOS app holds a 4.7 rating from roughly 7,900 ratings.

Latest developments

Klook filed for a US IPO on 10 November 2025, targeting a raise of US$300–500 million on the NYSE under the proposed ticker KLK with Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley as lead book-runners; SoftBank held about 11.1% and HongShan Capital Group (formerly Sequoia Capital China) about 15% of the stock per the S-1, and co-founders Ethan Lin and Eric Gnock Fah retain control via dual-class shares. IPO proceeds are earmarked for acquisitions, strategic investments and working capital. Subsequent activity includes an expanded two-year partnership with the Korea Tourism Organization (July 2026) and a collaboration with Mastercard across Asia Pacific (August 2026), alongside consumer research releases and continued app feature updates.