Property Management Platform Guesty Raises $50M in Series D Funding, Signaling a Year of Recovery for the Short-Term Rental Ecosystem

Following an unimaginable year in hospitality, the investment highlights the resilience and promise of alternative accommodation.

LOS ANGELES, April 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Guesty, the leading property management platform that automates and streamlines all complex operational needs accompanying short-term rental management, today announced it has raised $50M (£36M) in Series D funding, led by the Apax Digital Fund with participation from the AMI Opportunities Fund, both advised by Apax Partners ("Apax"), and existing investors Viola Growth, Flashpoint, Vertex Ventures, Kingfisher Investment Advisors and La Maison Partners.

The round brings the company's total funding to $110M (£79M), cementing its position as the highest-funded property management software fueling the alternative accommodation ecosystem, a competitive market in which small and large hospitality brands are increasingly relying on robust tech solutions to professionalise their operations in order to grow and scale.

"We are entering an exciting chapter in our company's life cycle with short-term rentals having gone mainstream as a direct result of the pandemic, now catering to an increased user base that expects the comfort and privacy of a home coupled with hotel-like amenities," said Amiad Soto, Co-Founder & CEO of Guesty. "UK 2021 summer reservation volume alone is currently 180% higher compared to last year and in August specifically, only 10% lower when compared to pre-COVID, 2019 volume. These numbers will only grow and highlight a bright future ahead, and Guesty is looking forward to being there every step of the way to support our customers and an industry that has shown resilience during an unimaginable year in which many had to quickly pivot and adjust their business models to stay afloat. We are coming out on the other side stronger, together as a community that believes in the evolution of travel."

News of the round follows Guesty's announcement earlier this month that it acquired fellow property management software and Y Combinator alum, MyVR, to expand the company's already strong footprint in North America and bring more standardisation to the space. Today, the company is also announcing it has acquired property management software, Your Porter. Both acquisitions will continue Guesty's goal of powering hosting businesses of all sizes - ranging from small, family-run operations to enterprise-sized hospitality brands.

Guesty will use the investment and growing team to power a year of hypergrowth in key markets, enhance its product capabilities to serve diverse customer segments, onboard top-notch talent and ultimately, be a pillar of support for the entrepreneurs who have built businesses off the democratisation of hospitality. The company will also continue to build out its Marketplace of third-party integration partners -- from digital concierges to remote staff management systems to keyless entry solutions -- in order to aid customers in providing "contact-free" guest experiences, all from within the Guesty dashboard.

"We are incredibly excited to partner with the team at Guesty to help accelerate their mission to bring sophisticated property management solutions to a rapidly shifting global ecosystem," said Daniel O'Keefe, Managing Partner at Apax Digital, who will join Guesty's Board of Directors. "Guesty is a stand-out player in a rapidly growing market," added Dave Evans, Principal at Apax Digital. "Having just acquired MyVR and Your Porter and given the company's differentiated product offering, Guesty is now the logical platform to consolidate the market, working with hosting businesses of all sizes."

With the understanding that travel would recover, Guesty kept busy over the last year, enhancing the platform's functionalities to support more property types, including multi-unit listings and aparthotels. The company also focused on addressing consumer behavioural patterns that emerged as a result of the pandemic by opening up the platform to support extended stays of one month or longer.

Since graduating from Y Combinator in 2014, Guesty has continued to build a flexible, smart software in a fragmented market, providing customers in over 80 countries with an end-to-end solution in which they can manage their portfolio of properties across a variety of online travel platforms. Looking to the future, Guesty will continue to push collaboration and innovation in a dynamic ecosystem that is poised for success.

About Guesty
Guesty's property management platform provides professional hosts and property management companies with an end-to-end solution to automate and streamline the complex operational needs of managing flexible inventory. With Guesty, users can manage listings from multiple online travel agencies including Airbnb, Booking.com, Agoda, Vrbo and TripAdvisor, and utilise the company's guest-centric tools including: Unified Inbox, Automation Tools, 24/7 Guest Communication Services, Accounting, Payment Processing and more. For more information, visit www.guesty.com.

About Apax and Apax Digital
The Apax Digital Fund specialises in growth equity and buyout investments in high-growth enterprise software, consumer internet, and technology-enabled services companies worldwide. The Apax Digital team leverages Apax's deep tech investing expertise, global platform, and specialised operating experts to enable technology companies and their management teams to accelerate the achievement of their full potential. For further information, please visit https://www.apax.com/create/strategies/apax-digital-growth/.

Apax Partners LLP ("Apax") is a leading global private equity advisory firm. For nearly 50 years, Apax has worked to inspire growth and ideas that transform businesses. The firm has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of more than $60 billion. The Apax Funds invest in companies across four global sectors of Tech, Services, Healthcare and Internet/Consumer. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com. 

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Lauren Gumport
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Lauren@guesty.com