ZUZU Hospitality Founder Vikram Malhi
ZUZU Hospitality, a revenue platform provider for independent hotels, today announced an oversubscribed US$9 million (SG$12 million) Series B funding round led by SoftBank Ventures Asia, with participation from Atinum Partners and existing investors Wooshin Venture Investment, Visor Ventures and JG Digital Equity Ventures.
The startup plans to double its hotel partner count across the region with a keen focus on India and reach an impressive milestone of 5,000 partners by the end of 2024. Furthermore, it also plans to make strategic investments in AI tools to improve pricing, automate guest management, and improve partner experience.
These advancements aim to enhance ZUZU Hospitality’s offerings and revolutionise how independent hotels operate in today’s competitive market.
The online travel market in Southeast Asia is projected to surge to an estimated worth of US$44 billion (SG$59 billion) by 2025, a significant increase since pre-COVID-19 times.
Over the past three years, amidst the pandemic, ZUZU Hospitality improved its products by focusing on simplifying and automating revenue management tools. According to the company, these improvements have proven instrumental in driving revenue growth for their hotel partners.
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It also introduced a new line of products specifically designed to enhance direct distribution capabilities. This includes creating a customised direct website and booking engine for each hotel partner, complete with localised payment platforms tailored to each market’s unique requirements.
Furthermore, recognising the challenges faced by independent hotels in managing payments, the company established a comprehensive payment platform enabling seamless payment management with all OTA partners and guests, mitigating the issue of payment discrepancies.
“We are thrilled to announce our Series B funding round,” said Founder and CEO Vikram Malhi in a statement. “The round’s oversubscription reflects the strong confidence our investors have in our vision and capabilities. This substantial financial boost will enable us to innovate our offerings further, accelerate our growth trajectory and support more independent hotels in increasing their revenue.”
“It’s a tough time to be raising funds but there is money sitting on the sideline ready to be deployed in capital-efficient businesses with strong unit economics. We are one such business that has managed to not only come out stronger post-pandemic, but also scaled with positive unit economics with a fraction of the relative capital,” shared Malhi.
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Image Credit: ZUZU Hospitality
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