10 May 2022, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Zahid Travel, a fully owned Zahid Group company that delivers comprehensive travel and destination management solutions to both businesses and individuals, is delighted to announce that it has recently completed a strategic investment in Bondai; an exciting travel technology start-up founded by Ms. Saria Alderhali, a young Saudi Arabian entrepreneur passionate about travel and technology.
Launched in July 2020, Bondai, (which is based in Jeddah, KSA), is the first double-sided marketplace in Saudi Arabia that guides experience-seeking travellers in discovering and booking curated experiences across the Kingdom. Additionally, Bondai offers an online ‘Software As A Service’ (SAAS) solution to tourism companies that allows them to automate their processes and grow their businesses. Bondai currently holds the largest database of travel experiences as well as travel service providers in Saudi Arabia who are using Bondai’s software in Saudi Arabia.
Bondai has been previously funded by notable VC’s in the region like 500 Global, Impact46, Hala Ventures, Zayani VC in its seed round. With this new round of investment led by Zahid Travel, Bondai will launch new products and distribute its listings across global channels, making it the leader in the full digitization of the tours and experiences sector across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
This round of investment is the latest of many accomplishments for the start-up. Bondai was one of the 15 high potential start-ups to be selected out of a pool of 1,000+ start-ups to be part of the first tourism accelerator in the region, which is run by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Tourism in Riyadh. Bondai gained access to a rigorous capability building program aimed at helping tourism start-ups scale up, get access to key decision makers and stakeholders in the ecosystem, as well as a service grant during their time in the accelerator.
Mr. Daniel Ponzo, Managing Director of Zahid Travel commented, “Our investment in Bondai is based on three factors: First, our commitment to Vision 2030 and being an active participant in accelerating the Kingdom’s travel and technology sectors. Second, our passion in promoting the Kingdom’s unique touristic offering to the world. Third, our appreciation for Saria’s passion and belief in her vision for Bondai.”
Mr. Samir Mehta, General Manager, GoZahid Destination Management, added, “Saudi Arabia is a new and unique destination, which has much to offer. We look forward to working with Bondai and in creating significant synergies in the destination management sector, to be technology driven, and becoming the leading source of experiential offering to travellers from across the globe.”
Ms. Saria Alderhali, Founder of Bondai concluded, “Zahid Travel is one of the Kingdom’s first and most respected travel solutions providers, with decades of experience and a wealth of knowledge and international contacts. We look forward to working with them in creating dynamic experiences and developing innovative means of promoting the best that our Kingdom has to offer to travellers.”
