Articles tagged “funding”

Cloudbeds' ability to raise $82 million validates both its strategy and the broader hospitality tech sector. Other notable fundings this week include Checkfront, which helps tours-and-activities operators handle bookings and payments, and SuitePad, which supplies digital tablets to hotel guest rooms.

Yonder, Airside, GogoBus, and TPConnects announced investments this week, showing that startup funding continued despite the recent global coronavirus crisis.

Startups that got funding this week included Xband, which runs model villages in China, Lanes & Planes, a travel management company, Oaky, a specialist in hospitality upselling, Revl, an automated souvenir video service, and Viselio, a visa application simplifier.

Several travel companies, such as Preferred Hotels & Resorts and Frankfurt Airport, have used the services of Loyalty Prime, a startup that builds next-generation software for running loyalty programs. Loyalty Prime's new funding is part of a wave of investment that we expect to see in loyalty tech companies.

Ayenda's Series A is notable for being led by Kaszek, a giant among Latin American venture firms. The industry will be watching to see if Ayenda can apply Oyo's model of bringing brand standards to budget hotels without running up Oyo's large losses.

Of particular note this week is that top-tier European venture capital firm Lakestar has bet on two companies: Impala, which helps hotels talk to other businesses, and Limehome, a next-generation hotel brand. Lakestar is best known for having invested early in companies like Airbnb, Skype, and Spotify. The travel sector can use all the smart money it can get.

This week, travel startups Turo, H20, Gtriip, Beekeeper, Immfly, Wishbox, and NannyBag announced more than $57 million collectively in funding.

Frontify helps companies like Lufthansa keep their brand assets in order, while Upgrade Pack offers a subscription service for access to exclusive discounts on flight and hotel upgrades, plus other interesting startup ideas in this week's funding roundup.

A few startups receiving funding this week deserve props for trying to shake up travel. Life House is targeting a brand gap left by major hotel groups in some markets. ByHours raised funding for letting guests book stays of as little as three hours at partner hotels. Stasher offers a network of rentable storage spaces for travelers' bags.

This week, travel startups announced more than $100 million in funding. One company to call out is Xiezhu. It provides software and hardware to about 8,000 hotels in China. We expect broad growth in the "smart hotels" trend, which involves devices such as electronic door locks for guest rooms that can be opened by voice or facial recognition.