Helsinki-based better-than-a-hotel hospitality platform Bob W has raised a total of €10 million in seed funding. The company raised €4 million in the first round of seed funding last year, and has closed and addition €6 million more as of today.
The round was led by byFounders VC and private equity firm Finnish Industry Investment (Tesi). The raise also saw participation from Kaamos, Superangel, United Angels, and NREP via its 2150 investment wing.
Bob W is reporting that the funding will be used to further develop their technology, grow the team, and expanding in existing markets, as well as enter new territories.
“Bob W is an example of entrepreneurs who are transforming the accommodation sector by combining a deep understanding of changing customer needs with intelligent technology solutions into a compelling new product offering,” comments Mikkel Bülow-Lehnsby, chairman and co-founder of NREP and partner at the 2150 VC fund.
Despite the troubling times for the hospitality sector, Bob W is reporting occupancy rates as high as 90% in its existing properties in Finland and Estonia. They point to their ability to cater to both business and leisure customers for long and short stays, as well as their “ridiculously clean standard”, one that exceeds WHO recommendations. Whether leisure travel and stays violated any national lockdown laws is, well, a whole other story.
“Despite the pandemic, our revenue grew significantly in 2020 and our occupancy was three times that of hotels. We serviced thousands of guests and hundreds of companies. Our customer satisfaction is high as evidenced by our 93 NPS (Net Promoter Score) compared to the average of 37 for hotels. Last year, we also launched our own tech platform and grew our team from six employees to 30. We expect to double that by the summer,” says Bob W CEO and co-founder Niko Karstikko.
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