Property management startup Guesty raises $ 50 million, acquires competitor Your Porter – TechCrunch

Guest, which has created property management software for hosts on short-term rental platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo, announces it has raised $ 50 million in Series D funding.

“In public markets, there are many players in hotel property management,” said co-founder and CEO Amiad Soto. “The same goes for residential property management. In short term rentals there is no public actor – you can bet your money that we are targeting this target. “

Over the past year, Guesty has expanded to support other types of properties, including multi-unit listings and ‘apartment hotels’.

And just like Airbnb executives are predicting a rebound in travel this year, Soto said things are looking pretty good for Guesty’s business; in fact, he predicted it was going to be “one hell of a year.” For example, the volume of summer bookings in the United States is 282% higher than in summer 2020, and even 32% higher than in summer 2019. In the UK, summer bookings are on the rise by 180% compared to last year (although down 19% compared to 2019).

“Yes, the pandemic has changed travel, but not necessarily in a negative way on every level,” Soto said. “Certainly for big hotels there are going to be big changes, but for vacation rentals and boutique hotels that offer a different experience, it has made them a lot more accessible and a lot more appealing. This is what our investors believe in.

Guesty has now raised a total of $ 110 million. The new round was led by Apax Digital Fund with participation from the AMI Opportunities Fund, as well as existing investors Viola Growth, Flashpoint, Vertex Ventures, Kingfisher Investment Advisors and La Maison Partners. Apax Digital CEO Daniel O’Keefe joins Guesty’s board of directors.

“We are incredibly excited to partner with the Guesty team to help accelerate their mission of bringing sophisticated property management solutions to a rapidly evolving global ecosystem,” O’Keefe said in a statement.

Soto added that the money will allow Guesty to continue investing in growth and technology. On the one hand, he said the company is already using machine learning to categorize and route 80% of guest messages, and that he sees opportunities to expand the use of artificial intelligence in the platform. form. The startup also plans to continue to develop its third-party integrations market.

And Guesty has been busy on the acquisitions front. Earlier this month, he announced acquisition of the MyVR property management platform supported by Y Combinator, and today he reveals that he has already bought another property management company, Your carrier. Soto said that with Your Porter’s technology, Guesty will be able to serve hosts ranging from family businesses with a few units to enterprise-wide property management companies.

He added that there will likely be more acquisitions in Guesty’s future: “Instead of duplicating all the resources, why don’t we share the resources? […] and create a much larger product?