Hotel, Short-Term Rental Tech Startups Raise Over $70 Million

17.06.2024 - 16:03 / skift.com / Justin Dawes

Big investments in hotel tech are usually reserved for startups selling comprehensive systems like property management.

But investors clearly see value in simplifying the guest experience based on the latest funding round for Canary Technologies. Products like mobile check-in and AI-generated messaging address customer demand for high-tech experiences, as well as the big resource constraints that hotels still face post-pandemic.

Besides hotel tech, there’s clearly still demand for companies that help hosts make short-term rental income. Three such startups from around the world announced millions in funding last week.

In total, six travel startups announced fundraises totaling over $75 million.

Canary Technologies raised $50 million in series C funding. 

The round was led by Insight Partners, who also led Canary’s series B round in 2022. Other investors in the latest round included F-Prime Capital, Thayer Ventures, Y-Combinator, and Commerce Ventures.

“In a year that proved tough on growth and execution in the tech ecosystem, we saw Canary thrive and exceed their ambitious targets, prompting us to double down,” said Thomas Krane, managing director of Insight Partners, in a statement. 

‍The San Francisco-based Canary platform is focused on hotel guest management, with software products for mobile check-in and checkout, upselling, guest messaging, and digital tipping. The company has also added a generative AI chatbot for guest messaging, which is meant to answer specific property questions and sell add-ons like late check-out, without disrupting front desk staff. 

Canary has more than 20,000 clients worldwide, including hotels by IHG, Wyndham, Marriott, Hilton, Four Seasons, and others.

Matsuri Technologies, which offers a platform that hosts can use to manage short-term rentals, has raised $8.5 million (1.34 billion Japanese yen) in series D funding.

The funds came from Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, along with a group of Japanese investors. 

Matsuri raised a $16 million series C round in 2022. 

The Tokyo-based StayX platform includes products for managing listings and bookings, guest messaging and smart locks, and housekeeping and maintenance tasks.

The funds will primarily go toward strengthening the software product, growing the footprint, and hiring. 

Besides the short-term rental product, Matsuri offers hotel tech and owns two brands: Stayme for hotels and S-Villa for vacation rentals.

Roamless, an eSIM provider for travelers, has raised $5 million in seed funding. 

Shorooq Partners led the round, with support from Revo Capital, Paribu Ventures, Finberg, and DeBa Ventures.

Roamless says it offers eSIMs in 69 countries, soon expanding to 200 countries, according to its website.