Vacation rental software company Hostaway recently announced a seed funding round of $1.45 million. The round was led by Finland-based Vendep Capital Fund, which invests primarily in Finnish B2B software startups, with participation from Business Finland. The company provides management software for professional property managers with 20 to 5,000 properties.
Hostaway was founded three years ago by Finnish tech professionals CEO Marcus Räder, CTO Saber Kordenstanchi, and Mikko Nurminen, originally as channel management software. Based in Helsinki and operating from additional offices in Toronto and Barcelona, the company has since grown to a full-service management software platform that includes operations automation, payment processing, guest messaging, reporting, and other tools.
Hostaway’s goal is to become one of the largest software providers in the industry. “We want to be the Salesforce of property management software,” said Robert Hoogendam, VP of operations. One of the planned uses of the seed funding is to grow its team from 30 to 60 or more employees by early 2019. The company is looking for developers, sales staff, and others.
“Our focus on diversity and global culture as key values, is ultimately what has helped us achieve the success we have today,” Nurminen said in a release.
Hostaway will also use the funding for product development, both increasing the benefits of its current software and bringing new products to market, Hoogendam said. The team is working on improving its integrations with Airbnb, Booking.com, and others.
The company now has 10,000 properties in its portfolio. Most of them are in North America and Europe, but they are seeing a growth spurt globally in South America, India, Asia, and Australia, Hoogendam said. “What we want to focus on is the high end of that market, property managers who look for high-end delivery software.”
The company has raised a total of $2.7 million from private and institutional investors, including a $795,000 round in February. Hostaway is also supported by Toronto’s DMZ, a tech start-up accelerator where the company is currently headquartered.
RSS