Participated · Equity · Oct 2021

Spotahome operates a 100% digital long‑stay rental platform that provides virtual tours (360° photos, floorplans and professional videos), online bookings without deposits and a guaranteed-rent product for owners. The company has built a portfolio of more than 150,000 properties across 28 countries and 100+ cities and employs roughly 120 people. Spotahome says it automated operations during Covid, doubled inventory and improved customer experience, which helped it return to profitability in Q3 2021 after the pandemic. At the close of 2021 the platform reported rental volume above $173M (€150M) and said it expects to at least double that figure in 2022. The company plans to use the new funding to consolidate growth in its eight main markets, pursue expansion across the 28 countries where it operates, and continue product development for owners and tenants. Spotahome operates an online platform that offers a hotel booking–like experience for renters seeking mid- to long-term accommodation. The service operates in 33 European cities and lists about 50,000 properties across Europe. It employs roughly 300 staff plus 120 freelance “homecheckers” who visit properties and create textual descriptions and video tours. For landlords the company provides tools to manage multiple properties, and it charges a fee split equally between renter and landlord (average fee under 9 percent). Founded in 2014, Spotahome has raised financing to support growth and recently purchased international student community Erasmusu. The company plans to use new funding to hire marketing and product development executives and is considering further acquisitions. Spotahome operates an online marketplace allowing users to view and book mid- to long-term accommodation, using in-person "Home checkers" to produce verified audio-visual listings. The company has built a library of more than 40,000 properties and operates in nine countries and 16 cities across Europe and the Middle East. Over the last three years Spotahome says it has generated more than €60 million in total contract value for landlords; it takes a fraction of that as revenue by charging a fee as part of collecting the first month’s rent. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Madrid, the startup employs more than 200 people, most of whom work at its HQ. The €13.6M Series A will be used to expand in existing markets and to fund new product development aimed at digitising more of the real-estate experience, including services for tenants and landlords. The company emphasizes trust through in-person verification rather than a self-service content model to reduce risk for tenants booking properties they have not viewed. Spotahome is a platform that enables direct booking of accommodation for stays longer than one month. Founded in early 2014 by Alejandro Artacho and based in Madrid, Spain, it provides tenants with accurate property descriptions and photos so they can make informed housing decisions before arriving. For landlords it offers access to high-quality tenants who may be hard to reach due to communication and language barriers. As of the article, Spotahome had expanded to six cities across Spain and Italy. The company raised a pre-VC funding round (amount undisclosed) led by Charlotte Street Capital with participation from Gabriel Leupin and Howzat Partners. It is using the funds to expand operations and is hiring.

Participated · Series C · Jun 2021

mymoria, founded in 2015 in Berlin, operates an online platform for full funeral planning and web-based funeral pre-planning. The company has digitized and optimized the end-to-end processes of arranging funerals, enabling bereaved families to organize cost-transparent services from home and allowing individuals to plan their own funerals online. mymoria has introduced digital features such as an online condolence book and live streaming of memorial services. The founders, Björn Wolff and Peter Kautz, lead a team of around 25 employees. To date the company reports having supported over 1,000 customers in Germany. mymoria plans to use new funding to accelerate growth in Germany, expand its services internationally, and develop additional digital services around funerals. mymoria is a digital funeral home that combines online funeral services with physical funeral boutiques. Last year the previously digital-only company opened its first boutiques in Cologne and Munich and plans to open more locations this year. The company has established its own transfer service across Germany to implement logistics for the entire group. mymoria is pursuing growth through acquisitions and the integration of traditional funeral homes into the digitally driven mymoria Group. Management aims to grow into the German market leader within the next three years. The company closed a Series C financing round of around €15 million to fund these expansion plans. Mymoria is a Berlin-based digital funeral company that lets users order a full funeral online and provides digital services such as a digital condolence book and live broadcast of funerals. The company was co-founded by Björn Krämer, Peter Kautz and Heiko Reintsch. The team is currently made up of 15 employees. Mymoria raised a seven digit Series A financing round to support its growth. The company will use the funds to keep investing in its core offerings, add new features to its product and internationalize its services. Backers on the round included Egora Holdings and existing investors btov Partners AG, Howzat Partners and VC Fonds Kreativwirtschaft Berlin (managed by IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft).

Participated · Equity · Feb 2020

Gronda is Europe’s largest network for food and beverage (F&B) professionals, founded in 2016. The platform lets chefs and service staff find jobs and learn new skills for free, while partner hotels and restaurants access a large F&B talent pool and employer branding tools. It is currently used by more than 250,000 qualified specialists and cooperates with over 500 partner companies across five countries, including Kempinski, Hotel Sacher, Four Seasons, Hilton and Marriott. Gronda positions itself as a solution to skilled‑worker shortages in the hospitality industry by connecting employers and workers on an international basis. The company closed a €1.5 million funding round to support international expansion and aims to register one million users and list jobs from more than 12 European countries this year. Part of its strategy is to simplify and standardize the application and recruitment process to enable cross‑border hiring across Europe.

Participated · Equity · Jan 2020

ByHours is a Spanish internet company founded in March 2012 that provides online hotel bookings by the hour. The platform has aggregated over 300 hotels. Its core product enables users to reserve rooms in hourly increments rather than traditional overnight stays. Recently Velocity Ventures announced a strategic investment in the company. That investment is being used to support ByHours' expansion into emerging Asian markets. The article does not report any revenue, user counts, or detailed financial metrics. BYHOURS offers microstay hotel bookings in packs of three, six and 12 hours, allowing users to choose check-in and check-out times. The platform is available in more than 3,000 hotels worldwide and users can book in over 20 countries across 600 destinations. Founded in 2012 by Christian Rodríguez and Guillermo Gaspart, BYHOURS has over 250,000 users and has sold more than one million hotel hours. The company has generated over €20 million in turnover and international sales accounted for 52% of overall sales at the end of 2019. With new investment, BYHOURS plans to consolidate its presence in Europe, Latin America and Middle East flight-connection points, start operations in the United States, and develop the B2B market and connectivity with other tourism players. The company opened a Mexico office to centralise Latin America operations and expects to add over 2,000 hotels, increase turnover by over 150%, and earn 75% of revenue from international bookings. ByHours operates an online platform for booking hotel rooms by the hour, led by Christian Rodríguez and Guillermo Gaspart. The company runs in markets including Germany (office in Berlin) and Great Britain and allows reservations in cities such as Vienna, Rome, Brussels and Amsterdam. It has about 35 employees and reported €3.1 million of revenue in 2015, with a plan to reach €5 million in the referenced year. The freshly raised funds are intended to consolidate its presence across Europe, Latin America and southern Asia. ByHours has stated plans to expand into cities near international airports (examples cited include Doha and Dubai) and into Latin America, and it may seek additional capital to support openings in Asia or the United States. ByHours operates an online platform that enables customers to reserve hotel rooms by the hour. The service is active in Germany (with an office in Berlin), the UK and in cities such as Vienna, Rome, Brussels and Amsterdam. The company is headquartered in Barcelona and reported 25 employees at the time of the report. ByHours posted €3.1M revenue in 2015 and planned to reach €5M that year. Management changes noted Guillermo Gaspart Bueno assuming the chair while founder Christian Rodríguez remained CEO; investor representatives Roland Zeller (Redalpine), Sascha Hausmann (Howzat) and Ertan Can (HR Ventures) joined the board. The company planned a follow-on financing of €6–8M in early 2017 to support its internationalization efforts. ByHours is a Catalan startup offering a platform to reserve hotel rooms by the hour. The company is led and co‑founded by Christian Rodríguez Fornos and counts Guillermo Gaspar among its early participants. At the time of the report it had about 30 employees and roughly 30,000 recurring users of its application. The business is positioned as a reference project in the Spanish tech scene. Mediaset joined the company through an advertising‑for‑equity arrangement that will give ByHours prominent promotional presence on the broadcaster's TV channels.

Participated · Series A · Dec 2018

Nezasa provides a SaaS platform to enable the connected trip, automating the planning, booking and management of multi-stage tour itineraries. Its platform allows travel brands to sell itineraries faster, more efficiently and with greater flexibility than manual processes. Led by founder and CEO Manuel Hilty, Nezasa intends to stimulate innovations in its product offerings. The company plans to use the new funding for international expansion and to accelerate the path to profitability. Nezasa closed a $4.7M funding round and will direct proceeds toward growth and product development. Nezasa provides a Software-as-a-Service booking platform that enables fully automated, seamless planning and booking of personalized travel. The platform is used by about 12,000 travel agencies and tour operators, including major customers such as FTI and DER Touristik. Its automation reduces costs for travel sellers while increasing revenues through higher-value baskets. The company raised additional growth capital to scale operations and handle a high volume of incoming requests. Management says the funding will also let Nezasa pursue new business opportunities as the travel market recovers after COVID. Manuel Hilty, co-founder and CEO, commented that the company is now well positioned to capture additional market share and advance digitalization and personalization for travel providers. Nezasa offers a booking platform that enables tour operators and travel retailers to automate the offering, customization and booking of trips. The platform allows consumers and travel agents to plan, personalize and book trips within minutes while showing how changes affect the entire travel plan. Using Nezasa, tour operators can attract more clients and reduce their cost to serve. Today more than 12,000 travel agents have access to the Nezasa platform; clients include FTI Touristik, Viamonda, Fineway, Berge & Meer, vtours and Swiss Travel Centre. The company will use the CHF 2.5 million Series A to accelerate sales and marketing and to execute its product roadmap. Management also plans to expand marketing and sales capabilities to tap into international markets. Nezasa offers a one-stop platform to design and book personalised travel itineraries, combining the service of an offline travel agency with the immediacy and transparent pricing of an online site. Travellers tell Nezasa where they want to go and receive suggested routes from destination experts, then fine-tune duration, stops and activities. The platform consolidates bookings for hotels, transfers and activities, and customers are supported by a local tour operator upon arrival. Nezasa is currently targeting travellers from English-speaking countries but plans to roll out globally. Its offered destinations span seven Asian countries, with plans to expand to more of Asia, then Africa, and finally Latin America. The company has pursued airline partnerships (it recently joined forces with Austrian Airlines) to accelerate growth and has raised just over $1.1 million to date.