India based Pricelabs, a SaaS company that provides short-term rental pricing management solution, has announced $30 Mn minority growth investment from Summit Partners. This marks the company’s first ever financing round as the company continues to reel in profit.
Founded in 2014 by Richie Khandelwal, Anurag Verma and Sana Hassan, Pricelabs is a tool for owners of properties which are meant for short-term rentals. These owners often find themselves investing more time than they would like trying to figure out the right price for their well-furnished abodes. Since these properties are booked on a per night basis, the demand tends to fluctuate depending on multiple factors. Weekends tend to be busier for this industry, and consumers are generally willing to pay more for a weekend stay. Sporting events or business conferences in town also contribute to increased demand. Middle of the week bookings tend to be a rarer occurrence. Failing to precisely account for all these variables leads to owners either setting the price too high and losing it all, or setting it too low and leaving money on the table.
Pricelabs uses their AI algorithm to factor in all these variables to run a dynamic pricing model for properties. It uses data from the past to extrapolate prices for coming time periods. It also provides owners with market analysis to compare the performance of their property in comparison to the market average. It also houses a graphical representation of predicted demand on a particular date. Prices update automatically through direct integrations with over 70 property management software solutions, helping property owners efficiently manage their operations and maximize the profitability of their listings.
Richie Khandelwal, Co-founder at Pricelabs, said “Pricing can be the single biggest growth lever when running any business, particularly in the hospitality space, where most businesses still use archaic methods and static pricing that can leave anywhere from 10 – 40% of revenue on the table. We purpose-built PriceLabs from the ground up to serve the needs of short-term rental operators, offering an easy-to-use and highly configurable solution that allows operators to combine our AI and algorithms with their own unique knowledge of the local market and property.”
Since launch, Pricelabs has over 150,000 property listings in over 100 countries, catering equally to single property owners and large property managers. Globally, the company competes with Beonprice and ClimberRMS. The company faces local competition in the form of Bangalore-based Aiosell.
