As the hospitality industry undergoes a significant period of transformation, we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve raised an additional $110m of funding, led by existing investor Kinnevik, alongside Revaia, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Notion Capital, and new investor LGVP.
This is a huge milestone for Mews as it takes our valuation to over $1.2bn. But what’s even more exciting is the impact this funding will have on hoteliers and guests all over the world.
We sat down with Matt, our CEO, and Richard, our Founder, to ask them what this means to them, for Mews and for hospitality in general.
What will the new funding be used for?
Richard: Hospitality was hit hard by the pandemic, and whilst the last couple of years have shown the resilience of our industry, we know we can do even more to help hoteliers build more profitable businesses that can grow as exponentially as software companies do.
That means expanding on what we’ve been doing for the last few years and adding to the hardest-working team in hotel tech. Last year we rebuilt our go-to-market teams so we can really put our foot on the accelerator to usher in a new era of hospitality, and we’ll keep growing our incredible R&D team.
User disengagement remains a top priority. We’ll keep streamlining our platform, making it ever easier to learn and use, allowing new talent to join our industry and ease staffing shortages. Our goal is for hotel staff to become some of the best-paid experience creators and curators in the world.
Matt: We’ll also be driving growth in our core markets, doubling down on the regions where we’re seeing real success. That includes Western Europe and countries like Germany, the Netherlands, France and the Nordics, but also the US where we're seeing a real excitement about Mews liberating hoteliers from their legacy tech stack. And to reiterate what Richard said, we’ll continue to invest heavily in R&D, because we need to stay at the forefront of innovation.
Lastly, we've been very active with acquisitions in the last couple of years, and we're always looking for opportunities to invest in technology and teams that will elevate experiences for hotels and guests.
What are you most excited about in the coming year?
Richard: Continuing the great work from 2023 and expanding on our product innovation. Of course, this year will be a big year for AI in hospitality, and I really look forward to seeing our teams release the first of these features to make sure Mews is at the forefront of AI innovation.
I’m excited for Mews to support the progress in hospitality driving the future of all real estate. We’ll see hoteliers utilizing more of their space to provide remarkable experiences for guests, rather than just focusing on heads-in-beds. More and more of our customers are thinking in this way and upselling amenities and spaces not only to overnight guests, but to the local community and day visitors.
I think we’ll also see a change in how the industry drives loyalty as hoteliers think both about the physical space of their properties and about enhancing how guests spend and remember their experience.
Matt: Real momentum has built in the past few months, and we’ve reached a tipping point in several markets. We onboarded the early adopters a few years ago and started seeing pockets of success, but once you get past 10% market ownership, suddenly word of mouth spreads and lots of local brands start adopting.
Markets that we heavily invested in over the last few years like Germany, France and the Nordics are seeing this massive acceleration with Mews adoption. We see a network effect of people that travel between Mews hotels who love the innovation it brings and embrace the positive effect it has on guests’ hotel experiences.
Any tips for business leaders who also want to succeed in hospitality?
Matt: In the early days, hotels and investors told us not to build a complex B2B platform. They said build something light that can scale fast.
We took all their advice very seriously, but ultimately, we knew there was a real problem to be solved in the back end of hotels. No one knows your business as well as you do or has as much context as you do, so don’t be afraid to make your own decision.
Also, one of the biggest pains of building a B2B platform is finding the balance between being product-led and sales-led.
It's important that you listen to customers and take their feedback about what they need today, but truly innovative companies are building for the future. We're not just looking to build a faster horse, we want to create a transformative solution that’s beyond what people think is possible. So, find that healthy balance between sales-led and product-led decisions, but lean into the product side of the business.
What are your ultimate aspirations for Mews?
Matt: Hospitality is so big and there's so much work to be done that I don't think we’ll get bored in the next decade! But there's always the aspiration to go beyond: through Mews Spaces we've diversified beyond the typical hotel product – rooms – into alternative spaces and services like bike rentals, co-working spaces and parking.
We’ve also worked hard to enable more flexible inventory set-ups (often championed by hotels or apartment rentals) like long stays. Essentially, we want to move past the traditional hotel product offering and really connect the whole infrastructure of service providers to make travel even easier.
Richard: Our aim is to go way beyond traditional boxed thinking and instead serve a variety of hospitality businesses with a solution that’s objectively recognized for its power to transform businesses.
The next couple of years will be about continuing these efforts, scaling worldwide and working with the most revolutionary hospitality operators to accelerate their own digital transformation and power their success.
Are you feeling energized by our vision for hospitality? We have loads of open job roles. Apply now to become a part of the Mews story.
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