Skift Take
Serent Capital was an investing chaperone to Revinate's acquisition of Navis. Its thesis is that the technological stars have finally aligned to produce many of the business intelligence breakthroughs that hotel companies have long sought.
Two travel tech companies that offer hoteliers and vacation rental managers tools for engaging with customers, encouraging direct bookings, and collecting and analyzing guest feedback have merged in a deal orchestrated by Serent Capital, a private equity firm based in Austin with $2 billion in invested capital.
Revinate, a San Francisco-based maker of software for guest data management and business intelligence, said on Tuesday it had absorbed Navis, which offers direct booking services. The combined company, under the Revinate brand, will serve more than 300,000 hotels.
"The merger lets hotels get one tech ecosystem where they can target the customer, convert the customer through their direct booking channels, and pull together guest profiles across data sources," said Abhishek Anjanappa, chief marketing officer of Revinate.
The companies haven't disclosed deal terms or transaction values. VRMintel first reported on the merger. Navis CEO Kyle Buehner will step aside after leading the company for 17 years. Most Navis employees will remain, a Revinate spokesperson said.
Serent Capital led a Series D round in Revinate in May 2020, during the depths of the pandemic. The round was approximately $8 million and $10 million in size, according to a financial filing.
Separately, Serent provided the capital to acquire Navis and merge it with Revinate.
Serent hasn't taken majority ownership of Revinate. The startup had raised about $45 million in equity funding before the pandemic. During the early part of the pandemic, Revinate took a $4 million loan from Horizon Tech Finance, in exchange for 615,475 in preferred stock warrants, according to filings. The startup also received a $1.8 million paycheck protection loan from the federal government, according to ProPublica.
"We took action to shore up our position," Anjanappa said. "But we definitely fared much better and came out ahead of what we thought we would need."
Serent's Interest in Software for Hoteliers
In a separate move a year ago, Serent invested in SHR (Sceptre Hospitality Resources), which provides hotels with its central reservation system called Windsurfer,
