Domio is a New York-based travel technology platform company that announced it has raised $12 million in Series A funding this week. This round of funding was led by Tribeca Venture Partners. SoftBank Capital NY and Loric Ventures also participated in this round.
With this round of funding, Domio plans to accelerate the development of its technology platform and scale its apart-hotel brand globally. Domio previously raised $5 million in equity and convertible debt financing from several individuals and angel investors within the real estate industry.
Along with this Series A investment announcement, Domio revealed a $50 million joint venture with Upper 90 — which was set up in September. As part of this deal, Domio will exclusively fund the leasing and operating of as many as 25 apartment-style hotels for group travelers. And Domio’s first apart-hotel property — which is known as Domio Baronne ST — is set to open in New Orleans on December 1, 2018.
What sets Domio properties apart from others? Domio’s properties cater to group travelers with spacious accommodations and provide travelers with friends or family with a more affordable option by charging 25% less than similarly-sized hotels. The average booking conducted on Domio has been for five guests and a median unit of three bedrooms and 1,500 square feet. This is five times the average hotel size in the U.S.
“We’re excited to have investors such as Tribeca, SoftBank Capital NY, Loric Ventures, and Rubicon VC on board to capitalize on the multi-trillion dollar opportunity in front of us as the hospitality industry moves to asset-light management and global travelers seek alternative accommodations,” said Domio CEO Jay Roberts in a statement. “The asset and operations-heavy approach of traditional hotels has made it difficult for them to meet the growing demand from travelers for larger, apartment style properties and marginalized the investment opportunity in this burgeoning market. Our proprietary technology and data models drive market and building selection, while our asset-light model enables Domio to efficiently operate apart-hotel accommodations to provide guests the experience they want while increasing the profitability of our properties.”
Domio operates its apart-hotel accommodations from end-to-end. With this level of control, Domio properties are branded and designed similarly to offer a higher stand stay across all locations. This is different from other vacation rental companies where listings are made up of properties from millions of different owners.
So far, Domio has hosted more than 70,000 guests across properties in Austin, Nashville, San Diego, Boston, New Orleans, and Honolulu. And Domio’s utilization of software to optimize accommodations led to sales growth of 400% year-over-year and is hitting an occupancy rate of more than 82%. This is nearly 20% higher than the average of hotels.
