A rental market, rebuilt around the tenant
In most of Indonesia, renting an apartment has meant paying a full year's rent up front, in cash, often after a 20% down payment and a security deposit. For a young, urbanizing middle class, that is a wall. Travelio, founded in Jakarta in 2015, set out to remove it. Its pitch was almost mundane: book a furnished apartment online, pay by the month, and let someone else handle the cleaning, the keys and the broken air conditioner. That ordinary-sounding promise turned into a platform now managing roughly 15,000 exclusive properties across 12 cities.
Regional tech press likes to call Travelio "Indonesia's Airbnb." The label is convenient and a little misleading. Airbnb lists a room and steps back. Travelio does the unglamorous middle - certifying units, furnishing them, screening tenants, collecting payments and maintaining the property. Its founders have been blunt about who they actually compete with. "Our competitors are property dealers," one co-founder put it, drawing a line between Travelio's management-first model and the marketplace platforms it is usually compared to.
Figures compiled from public reporting (TechCrunch, DealStreetAsia, TechNode, e27) and company statements; property and headcount figures are approximate and change over time.
The product is the operations
At its simplest, Travelio is a two-sided platform. On one side are apartment and house owners, developers and agents who hand over units. On the other are people who need a place to stay - for a night, a month or a year. Between them sits Travelio's software and, crucially, its field operations.
Listings are standardized. Travelio certifies each unit for cleanliness and basic amenities such as air conditioning before it goes live, so a renter has a reasonable idea of what they are getting. Units operated under the Apartment by Travelio arm are managed in-house, and Travelio Property Management extends that service to owners who want a hands-off arrangement.
The flexible payment scheme is the part that changed behavior. Travelio positioned itself as an online, transactional platform where tenants could pay each month across a rental period rather than settling a full year in advance - a meaningful shift in a market built on annual, cash-heavy leases.
The customer base reflects that range: business travelers and expats needing extended stays, families and staycationers on short trips, and longer-term renters looking for furnished, predictable housing. On the supply side, developers with unsold or vacant inventory get a channel that fills units and handles the tenants for them.
"With Indonesia's rising middle class, Travelio is well-positioned to serve the growing demand for temporary housing, urbanization and affordable living options."
Four ways in
Travelio App & Web
Booking platform for furnished apartments, houses and villas - daily, monthly and annual terms, with dynamic pricing, guest verification and flexible payments.
Apartment by Travelio
In-house managed, certified units that meet cleanliness and basic-amenity standards - operated directly by Travelio for a consistent stay.
Travelio Property Management
Professional management for apartment and house owners: tenant sourcing, cleaning, maintenance, payments and marketing, all handled.
Rent-to-Own
Launched with Series C capital, aimed at giving renters a path toward ownership in a market where buying outright is out of reach for many.
How it makes money, and why it's different
Revenue share. Travelio earns by taking a cut - reported in the range of roughly 20-35% - from the owners whose units it manages and rents out, monetizing across daily, monthly and annual bookings rather than a single stay type.
Adjacent services. On top of rent, the company has layered on operations-heavy extras - furnishing, cleaning, maintenance, payments - and more recently financing through rent-to-own.
The moat is operational. A listings-only marketplace can be copied in a weekend. Running standardized inventory across 12 cities, with in-house cleaning and maintenance and monthly payment collection, is far harder to replicate - and it is what separates Travelio from both brokers and lighter-touch platforms.
Honest positioning. The founders treat Airbnb as a partner, not a rival, and name traditional property dealers as the real competition. That clarity shapes where they invest.
Founders
Hendry Rusli
Software and product depth; helped build the Travelio platform.
Christina Suriadjaja
Former pro athlete; joined as an angel investor, then led strategy.
Christie Tjong
Operations across the managed-property business.
Christie Amanda
Part of the founding team from 2015.
Christina Suriadjaja has been recognized in Forbes coverage of women in Indonesian tech.
The capital, round by round
| Round | Amount | Date | Lead / Notable Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series A | $4M | May 2018 | Vynn Capital (lead), Insignia Ventures, Pegasus Tech Ventures |
| Series B | $18M | Nov 2019 | Pavilion Capital & Gobi Partners (co-lead), IndoGen, Cynn, PT Surya Semesta Internusa |
| Series C | Undisclosed | Apr 2023 | DAOL Ventures (lead), Orzon Ventures, AppWorks, Vynn Capital |
Total raised reported at over $24M across rounds. Series C amount was not publicly disclosed.
Between the broker and the app
Indonesia's rental market is large, urbanizing and stubbornly fragmented - a landscape of individual landlords, brokers and unsold developer inventory. Global platforms sit at one end (Airbnb, OYO, RedDoorz) and traditional dealers at the other. Travelio's bet is the space between: a technology layer with real operations underneath, consolidating supply that no single broker could standardize.
That position is what drew a widening circle of investors, including, in 2023, Korean and Thai-linked capital through DAOL Ventures and Orzon Ventures. The rent-to-own vertical pushes the same logic one step further - from housing people to helping them eventually own.
A decade in five moves
Travelio is founded
Four co-founders launch an Airbnb-style daily-and-monthly rental service in Jakarta.
Managed inventory takes shape
In-house "Apartment by Travelio" operations begin standardizing listed units.
$4M Series A
Vynn Capital leads a round to expand the rental platform.
$18M Series B
Pavilion Capital and Gobi Partners co-lead, pushing total funding past $24M.
Series C & rent-to-own
An undisclosed round led by a large Korean financial group funds a new rent-to-own vertical.
Things you might not know
- Co-founder Christina Suriadjaja is a former professional athlete who joined Travelio first as an angel investor.
- Three of the four co-founders share the "Christ-" name: Christina, Christie Tjong and Christie Amanda.
- Travelio treats Airbnb as a partner - not a competitor. Its stated rival is the traditional property dealer.
- Every listing is certified for cleanliness and basic amenities like air conditioning before it goes live.
Quick answers
What does Travelio do?
It runs an online marketplace and management platform for apartments, houses and villas, letting owners hand over units for professional management and letting tenants book furnished homes for daily, monthly or annual stays.
Where is it based and how big is it?
Headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, with around 650 employees and roughly 15,000 exclusive properties managed across 12 cities.
Who founded Travelio?
Founded in 2015 by Hendry Rusli (CEO), Christina Suriadjaja (CSO), Christie Tjong (COO) and Christie Amanda.
How much has it raised?
Over $24M+ across a $4M Series A (2018), an $18M Series B (2019) and an undisclosed Series C (2023) led by a large Korean financial group.
How is it different from Airbnb?
Rather than a listings-only marketplace, Travelio manages properties in-house - standardization, cleaning, maintenance and payments - and offers flexible monthly payment terms.
Find Travelio
Sources: TechCrunch, DealStreetAsia, TechNode Global, e27, Skift, KrASIA, Forbes, Crunchbase, Vynn Capital, Heaptalk. Some figures are approximate and reflect the most recent public reporting.