Based out of the U.S., Sonder is a tech-driven hospitality company. It’s raised $529.6 million, and, in the post-pandemic world where the population has become far more movable due to remote working, similar businesses are raising funds to attend to the needs of this global, nomadic workforce.
We first covered the NUMA Group (then called Cosi) back in 2019 when it raised €5 million for its “full-stack” hospitality alternative to boutique hotels, and then later on when it raised €20 million.
It has now raised an additional $45 million in growth capital, in a round led by DN Capital Group (which has also backed Auto1, HomeToGo, and Shazam, previously). Co-leading the investment is Headline (formerly eventures). Also participating is Cherry Ventures, Soravia, Kreos Capital, TruVenturo and Scope Hanson.
NUMA provides boutique hotels, offering around 2,500 units in Berlin, Munich, Rome, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona and Vienna. It partners with investors, property owners, developers and hotel operators to create technology-based units. The platform is designed to increase profits for hotel operators through automated business processes, intelligent pricing and higher occupancy rates. Germany-based NUMA Group expanded into Spain, Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic in 2021.
Christian Gaiser, CEO, and co-founder of NUMA Group said: “Our clear goal is to establish NUMA as the dominant technology and creative solution provider for a completely new generation of hotels in Europe. NUMA used the pandemic to prove the resilience of its business model. We achieved 500% revenue growth and 85% booking occupancy despite Corona using our NUMA concept and proprietary technology.”
NUMA’s two main main differences with Sonder are that, from a guest point-of-view, NUMA is aimed at a broader demographic (Sonder focuses on a higher price point), plus it launched a “tech franchise” solution called “NUMA go” where it provides third-party hoteliers with NUMA’s tech stack for a percentage of revenue.
Nenad Marovac, founder and managing partner of DN Capital Group, said: “We are very impressed by NUMA’s strategy, performance and its consistent expansion in a very challenging market environment. The team behind NUMA has consistently achieved high occupancy rates and sustainable profitability of its units despite Corona. NUMA’s business model offers an attractive risk-reward profile for real estate partners, operators – and, most importantly, a completely new travel experience for modern travelers.”
