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Despite clouds of uncertainness looming over the economy and geopolitics , hoi polloi still desire to travel . To satisfy that need , Mews , an Amsterdam - establish “ unicorn ” building an SaaS political program for hotel management , has raised a fresh $ 75 million .
The funding is coming at a crossroads in the travel industriousness .
From one commission , the plus signals : analyst atOxford Economicsforecast that the industry will grow by 12 % this year , work out to 1.75 billion “ arrivals . ” And that is equating to money getting indue into travel inauguration . TravelPerk inJanuaryraised $ 200 million at a $ 2.7 billion valuation ; Hostaway promote $ 365 million inDecember 2024 ; and Tourlane in Germany raised $ 26 million from Sequoia inNovember 2024 . Prosus also scoop out up Latin American traveling playerDespegar for $ 1.7 billion .
But it ’s not all rosy . It ’s unclear how tariffs and other economic maneuvers will impact people ’s travel budget , not to mention the uncertainty over geopolitics . It ’s also notable that Expedia has beenlaying off staff . Could that be a one - off move to improve efficiency , or is it a bellwether of more to come ?
Mews also has dozens of rival , which admit incumbents like Oracle as well as other startup like SoftBank - backed Cloudbeds .
For now , things look to be humming along for Mews .
unexampled angel Tiger Global led this latest equity investing , with involution from old investors Kinnevik , Battery Ventures , and Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives . ( Battery leave Mews’$33 millionSeries B , while Kinnevik and Goldman Sachs led the startup’s$185 million Series Cin 2022 ; Kinnevik also lead Mews ’ 2024 Series D of$110 million . )
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This belated stave is opportunistic , CEO Matt Welle told TechCrunch in an interview . Specifically , it came after Tiger approached Mews seeking to work together more . Mews is not disclosing its current evaluation , and Welle instead call it a generic ontogenesis round , adding that the inauguration plans to erect a much larger Series - storey round in a year or two .
For some context : Exactly a class ago , when Amsterdam - founded Mews set up its Series D , it was value at $ 1.2 billion post - money .
presently , some 6,300 hotel habituate its platform , up from 5,000 a year ago , and it tell that in 2024 it processed $ 10 billion worth of payments , doubly from a class before . In 2024 , its revenue crossed $ 200 million as it add together more customers to the platform . It ’s also amplify the services on that platform , which is also build more gross per customer . Some are constituent and some by M&A , such as its late acquisition of Atomize to help its users with revenue management . PitchBook notesthat Mews also raised $ 100 million in debt in September last class to fund acquisitions .
While a large part of Mews ’ business is in Europe ( it says it now has 20 % mart insight in the DACH realm , for example ) , a heap of the increase has come from a big push across the pool .
These days , founding father ( and co - CEO ) Richard Valtr spend most of his time in the U.S. , where the company has been focusing a lot — it doubled revenues in North America in the last year .
When Valtr founded the ship’s company in 2012 , he did so understanding many of the annoyance points of running a hotel business organisation . He had been an independent hotel owner himself , and he realized that there was a prime opportunity to leverage the net , and the rise of software - as - a - service , to progress something new .
There are a number of point answer in the hospitality grocery , but Mews take a “ Toast ” approach to the industry , build its merchandise with the concept of being end - to - end . It tender software for make do hotel availability and reserve online , directly and through third - party platform ; creature for managing hotel staff office and facilities ; defrayal and accounting peter ; consequence management software ; allegiance and invitee experience apps ; and more .
Perhaps predictably , Welle said that Mews has recently been double down on AI . It has an in - sign team work on dissimilar projects — not only customer - facing agentic dick , but also algorithms to improve how Mews works . One example , he said , is a new customer profile option that takes in all of an individual ’ activities and preference as logged at a hotel chain to create “ Tweet - sized ” summary that concierges and receptionist can apply to improve customer armed service .
“ Mews is redefining what it imply to birth prodigious guest experiences in the hospitality sector and beyond , ” Sara Eadie , who led the investment for Tiger Global , tell in a financial statement . ( Tiger decline to be interviewed for this level . )
As it has originate , Mews has focalise on catching bigger fish in the cordial reception space . The company says the turn of hospitality “ brands ” that practice its tools has doubled , and some of its new customer admit Best Western Hotels , Weekender , and Lark Hotels .
To be clear , this does n’t entail all Best Westerns are using Mews now . As with all deals with customers that flow a franchising model , Mews is now on an approved provider list , but it still needs to get with case-by-case franchises to win raw business concern .
