According to an announcement today, hospitality management firm Hostmaker has raised £5 million in Series A funding round led by French venture capital fund Ventech, as well as existing investors DN Capital.
Headquartered in London, Hostmaker, was founded in 2014 and is an Airbnb management service which lends a hand to Airbnb hosts with online listings, guest experience, and hotel-style housekeeping.
The firm plans to use the new inflow of funds in order to consolidate its position in London, Paris, Rome, and Barcelona – four of the biggest names in the Airbnb market. According to Hostmaker, it supports more than 1,000 homestay hosts across these cities. With this latest investment, Hostmaker’s total funding has climbed to £7.5 million.
Nakul Sharma, founder and CEO of Hostmaker, commented:
Our investors back our vision of creating a premium hospitality experience within the homestay segment that is seeing explosive growth. Regulatory changes in all cities have now made short-lets a category offering that is here to stay. Over the last few years, we have seen a fundamental change in how homeowners view their home as not just their private space but as a space to be shared, which allows them to monetize an asset and makes living in expensive European capitals more affordable.
According to him, they are unique in their segment, rapidly scaling internationally, since they are also capitalizing on a golden opportunity by offering to homeowners “proprietary pricing technology, in-house interior design and a five-star trained operations team, all under one roof.”
Ventech is a venture capital firm based out of Paris, currently supporting fashion platform Vestiaire Collective and home cleaning service Helpling.
Alain Caffi, founder and managing partner of Ventech, said:
Hostmaker is the perfect enabler to push further the Airbnb revolution in a scalable and profitable way. The team has the professionalism to achieve its long-term vision of being an alternative to hotel groups in the 3 to 4 stars’ segment; this is game changing.
