Prague-based Mews bags €174M for its hotel management platform

Prague-headquartered Mews, a cloud-based property management system, announced on Thursday that it has secured $185M (approximately €174M) in a Series C round of funding. The company has now  raised a total of over $225M (approximately €211M) to date. 

The round was led by Kinnevik and Goldman Sachs Asset Management with participation from Revaia, Derive Ventures, Orbit Capital, Battery Ventures, Notion Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Thayer Ventures, and henQ.

Besides equity, Columbia Lake Partners provided debt to Mews.

Mews says it will use the funds to accelerate product innovation, global expansion, and M&A. The announcement comes three years after raising $33M in a Series B round of funding in 2019. 

“Our mission is to transform the hospitality industry with cloud solutions that make hospitality more rewarding for everyone,” says Matthijs Welle, CEO of Mews. “This funding will enable the Mews team to accelerate some very ambitious plans in product & engineering, continue our international expansion, and ensure we can serve the most forward-thinking hotel owners and operators in the world.”  

Mews: What you need to know

Founded by Richard Valtr, Mews is a property management platform designed to simplify and automate all operations – from booking engine to check-out, and from front desk to revenue management – for modern hoteliers and their guests. The company aims to transform the hospitality industry with a cloud-based property management system. 

The company currently works with companies such as Nordic Choice, Accor, The Social Hub, Les Airelles, Life House, Pandox, and Generator-Freehand. 

Richard Valtr, founder of Mews, says, “The hotel industry has come roaring back this year across almost every region and segment. At the same time we’re seeing a very changed industry that’s embracing technology to modernize and streamline their operations. Our customers are using the Mews Hospitality Cloud to build more resilient and profitable business models with connected guest journeys, subscriptions, hybrid hospitality, long stays, and much more. With this funding, we’re going to continue pouring investment into R&D; we have a very exciting pipeline of product releases over the next few quarters.”

The company says its revenue has increased by over 174 per cent YoY and Gross Payment Volume (GPV) increased 227 per cent YoY to $2.3B.

In 2022, the company launched Mews Ventures, the investment arm of Mews.  With multiple deals closed and pending, this dedicated M&A team has been formed to fuel growth and innovation for Mews. 

Investors

Akhil Chainwala, Investment Director at Kinnevik says, “Richard, Matthijs, and the broader Mews team have an intimate understanding of hoteliers’ needs and have taken a product-first approach to developing a modern solution in a sector ripe for disruption. As cloud adoption in hospitality accelerates, driven by more complex guest needs and rising costs, Mews is best positioned to rebuild the sector’s digital plumbing. We are excited to welcome a fourth travel investment to our portfolio and look forward to supporting Mews in the next phase of its journey.”

“Closing a large round in this environment speaks to the tremendous growth and future potential of Mews,” says Kirk Lepke, Managing Director in the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. 

“Hoteliers have experienced a lot of challenges over recent years, driving increased demand for cloud-native platforms, like Mews, to help them modernize, improve the guest experience, and create efficiencies through smart automation. With their open architecture and fully integrated payment capabilities, Mews is heavily relied upon as a mission critical solution,” he adds.