- Business travel hotel booking and management platform Hotel Engine announced it raised $16 million in Series A funding led by Telescope Partners.
Hotel Engine — a hotel booking and management platform for business travel — announced it has received its first external investment of $16 million in a Series A funding round led by San Francisco-based growth equity firm Telescope Partners.
Even though Hotel Engine was bootstrapped since being founded in 2015, the company experienced 300% growth year-over-year and is now valued at over $150 million. Hotel Engine managed this growth through a massive expansion in its customer footprint, adding over 10,000 new users a month. By partnering with Telescope, it will speed up the development of new product features and functionality for business travelers who are looking for more customer-centric innovation.
“I’m extremely proud of what the Hotel Engine team has built in just a few short years, and I’m excited for the opportunities we now have in front of us with this investment,” said Hotel Engine founder and CEO Elia Wallen. “This partnership gives us the added resources we need to increase our velocity and meet this growing market demand. We’re very excited to work with Mickey and his team and to take advantage of Telescope’s experience and knowledge to support Hotel Engine in our mission.”
Hotel Engine’s proprietary booking and management platform is supporting companies of all sizes across the private and public sector and provides access to over 200,000 available hotel properties in more than 185 countries.
This round of funding will enable Hotel Engine to further its mission to make managing business travel lodging simpler. And the company will focus on expanding its foothold within the small-to-medium business market and continue building out its team.
Telescope Partners was launched in 2016 by former Sequoia Capital partner Mickey Arabelovic. Arabelovic has been in the venture capital industry since 2005 and worked with software companies such as Carbon Black, Hirevue, and Waystar.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Elia and the team at Hotel Engine. Until now only the largest companies had access to the hotel rates and software tools that allow for optimized travel spend, Hotel Engine brings that power to every business owner,” added Arabelovic.
