Guesty Raises $170 Million in Series E for Property Management Tools
Platforms like Airbnb and Verbo have seen more 'n more consumer and business users stay in private properties when traveling or working away from their usual home base. That has meant a boom for startups building technology to help those renting out properties to manage the process. To address this problem, Guesty and likes have buid property management tools to manage properties on sites like Verbo, Expedia, Airbnb and Booking.com.
“With the ways people live, work, socialize and travel having shifted, the lines between traditional hotels and rental accommodations continue to blur,” co-founder and CEO Amiad Soto told TechCrunch in an interview. “Hospitality operators — everyone from hosts to property managers to hotel brands — are continuing to adapt to this new reality. The last few years brought new customer personas to the short-term rental market, including classic hotel-goers who have higher demands for guest experiences and services.”
The funds raised is an all-equity Series E, at a valuation triple than that of 2021. According to PitchBook the last round was a $230 Million valuation, which puts the $170 Million raised funds at a valuation of $700 million. Even at this valuation and funds raised, the company is not yet profitable, but aims to turn this trend around by next year. “We expect our revenue and listings under management to continue to double year-over-year, both in 2022 and 2023,” Soto told TechCrunch.
“Since our inventory has grown to include more than just short-term rental listings and include more flexible accommodations, such as co-living spaces, aparthotels, glamping and more, the key metrics that demonstrate our growth are our revenue and profitability,” Soto said, adding that Guesty has seen 100% growth year on year and expect this to continue. The startup’s team now numbers 585 employees, which has also doubled in size in the last year.
Guesty features number around 18, including calendar management and ways to manage across multiple booking portals, and channels to manage guest-host communications, analytics and accounting tools, payment tools and more. The plan is to use some of this funding to continue picking up more businesses that complement Guesty’s strategy, and to continue taking it beyond simply providing tools to manage properties, but to provide other services, automation, financial services and for its users, to give them an end-to-end, one-stop platform to manage their own work as a business.
Direct competitors today include the likes of TravelNest, Hostaway and Lodgify, among many others, albeit the competitive landscape doesn’t deter investors, though.
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