Czech Republic: Hospitality technology provider Mews has raised $185 million in Series C funding led by equity investment company Kinnevik and the growth equity business within Goldman Sachs.
The latest funding round saw participation from Revaia, Derive Ventures and Orbit Capital, alongside returning investors including Battery Ventures, Notion Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Thayer Ventures, and henQ.
It brings the total amount raised to date to $225 million. The funding will be used to accelerate product innovation, global expansion and M&A.
“Our mission is to transform the hospitality industry with cloud solutions that make hospitality more rewarding for everyone,” said Matthijs Welle, CEO of Mews. “This funding will enable the team to accelerate some very ambitious plans in product and engineering, continue our international expansion and ensure we can serve the most forward-thinking hotel owners and operators in the world.”
Richard Valtr, founder of Mews, added: “The hotel industry has come roaring back this year across almost every region and segment. At the same time we’re seeing a very changed industry that’s embracing technology to modernise and streamline their operations. Our customers are using the Mews Hospitality Cloud to build more resilient and profitable business models with connected guest journeys, subscriptions, hybrid hospitality, long stays, and much more. With this funding, we’re going to continue pouring investment into R&D; we have a very exciting pipeline of product releases over the next few quarters.”
This year, Mews has announced partnerships with Leading Hotels of the World and Relais & Châteaux, acquired F&B management and POS platform Bizzon, and launched Mews for Salesforce as well as Mews Ventures.
Akhil Chainwala, investment director at Kinnevik, said: “Richard, Matthijs, and the broader Mews team have an intimate understanding of hoteliers’ needs and have taken a product-first approach to develop a modern solution in a sector ripe for disruption. As cloud adoption in hospitality accelerates driven by more complex guest needs and rising costs, Mews is best positioned to rebuild the sector’s digital plumbing. We are excited to welcome a fourth travel investment to our portfolio and look forward to supporting Mews in the next phase of its journey.”
Kirk Lepke, managing director in the growth equity business within Goldman Sachs asset management, said: “Hoteliers have experienced a lot of challenges over recent years, driving increased demand for cloud-native platforms, like Mews, to help them modernise, improve the guest experience, and create efficiencies through smart automation. With their open architecture and fully integrated payment capabilities, Mews is heavily relied upon as a mission critical solution.”
