Selfbook is a leading startup that offers software solutions in the hotel payments space. It has now confirmed new funding of $25 million in its Series A round as per azevedotechcrunch. The round was led by none other than Tiger Global Management. Other participants included Fin Venture Capital, Valia Ventures, and many angel investors including former Stripe-employee and current investor, Lachy Groom. The company is now valued at $125 million, having raised $30 million till date. The valuation indicates growth of almost 16 times from the earlier valuation of the entity, when it got $2 million as seed funding.
This has been confirmed by the Co-Founder & CEO at Selfbook, Khalid Meniri. Investors like 9Yards Capital, TenOneTen Ventures, and Better Tomorrow Ventures have also taken part in this funding round. Selfbook’s software solutions help hotels and hospitality entities take single-click payments via their websites directly from customers. This lowers the risks of fraud and even chargebacks.
The company was setup in 2020 as a shift towards a business-to-business entity from what was once an app for travel. The company is based in New York and envisions itself as a Shopify-like brand for the travel industry. It also confirms that it functions as a hospitality-fintech solution. Hotel brands can readily execute this technology with only a single code line, as per Meniri. He also states that this will help in enhancing booking experiences directly via their reservation systems/sites.
Selfbook had only one hotel at its launch, although it has now inked deals with 90 hotels. 15 of them have already come live. Its customers include names such as THE LINE’s properties throughout Austin, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Texas. It also has clients like Eden Rock St Barths and Le Pigalle at Paris. The company is mainly targeting the EU and U.S. markets.
It has already confirmed growth of 10X in the number of digital wallet and sign-on users. 67% of bookings were done via mobile digital wallets as per the company. Selfbook has stated that it is the only one providing payment-tech for hotels with digital wallet support (this includes PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and even buy now pay later). It also offers support for all credit/debit cards along with one-click payment options. Meniri also confirms that the software enables merchandising and direct links for bookings.
The software can also bring numerous solutions together, including appointments, reservations, and other activities into one workflow. This can help hotels up-sell more to customers, while enhancing revenues considerably in turn. Selfbook has a 50-member team and will use the funds for further recruitment. It will also scale up its partnerships with hospitality brands and fintech players. Selfbook was earlier involved in offering reservations/bookings at 3,000+ hotels. This was done through its travel app, SIX. The company built its own software for transactions as well. Partner at Tiger Global, Alex Cook, feels that Selfbook has a role to play in transforming hotel bookings, while scaling up hotel conversions, and improving experiences for guests during bookings. Groom has also opined that Selfbook solves a big issue for everyone booking hotels online.