Amsterdam-based Katanox, a startup that enables a direct partnership between hotel and travel sellers, has received a convertible loan of €300K from the Innovation Fund Noord-Holland. Besides, there is additional co-financing by early-stage investors.
What does Katanox do?
According to the company, “The travel industry has seen a lot of growth over the past 30 years, but innovation in the sale of travel products has lagged behind. This is especially the case in the relationship between travel providers and the services they offer, such as air travel and hotel rooms. This relationship is governed by some closed B2B marketplaces and B2C platforms.”
Katanox wants to bring innovation to hotel distribution by making it easier for digital travel providers to directly sell hotel rooms. The company is developing a platform with scalable links for the back-end systems of hotels.
It believes, the OTA duopoly, GDSs and Bedbanks have extended control over hotel distribution, hindering new entries into the market. An extremely fragmented technical infrastructure heightens the cost to entry.
Travel providers can offer hotel rooms directly via an API from the Katanox platform. This enables hotels to establish direct relationships with a large group of travel providers in an automated platform. Hotels maintain control over the way their rooms are offered and travel providers always have access to the latest images, availability, and prices.
The company was founded in 2019 by Georgios Georgiadis, Imre Vogelezang, and Mendel Senf.
Use of the capital
Mendel Senf, the co-founder of Katanox says, “We provide a direct booking function for digital travel providers to build a transparent business relationship with the hotels and reduce their dependence on the major booking platforms.”
And with this funding, Katanox is developing that technology with an aim of helping the recovery and accelerating the growth of the travel industry.
About the North Holland Innovation Fund
The North Holland Innovation Fund is an initiative of the Province of North Holland, the University of Amsterdam, the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam UMC and Sanquin, with support from the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund. The Fund supports entrepreneurs in the Province of Noord-Holland with financing innovation in the Proof-of-Concept phase. It provides convertible loans. The term of the first fund part is 2018-202
Wouter Keij, director Innovation Fund Noord-Holland, says, “Katanox gives hotels and digital travel providers the opportunity to make mutual agreements themselves. Realising fair chains creates more room for (new) digital travel providers to set up economically sustainable business models. Consumers benefit from this through a better range of hotels that suit their preferences. Hotels and consumers benefit from a direct relationship between the two.”
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