Startup behind hotel 'central nervous system' is latest Dutch unicorn

Amsterdam-based Mews, a cloud-based property management system (PMS) for the hospitality industry, has become the latest Dutch unicorn.

In a fresh funding round, the startup — which is also a TNW community member — achieved unicorn status after raising $110mn (€101mn) at a valuation of $1.2bn (€1.1bn).

Mews was founded in 2012 by Richard Valtr, an ex-hotelier on a mission to accelerate the digital transformation of the hospitality space. “Digital transformation is challenging for many hospitality brands because too many run their systems with legacy, on-premise technology,” Valtr told TNW.

“This hampers so much innovation within the sector and limits the experiences hoteliers can give to both demanding guests and employees who need quick ramp-up times.”

Valtr describes Mews as the “central nervous system” of any hotel operation, controlling everything from managing booking and checking-in guests to handling payments and supporting the housekeeping team. The startup offers a flexible and cloud-based platform with over 1,000 integrations in its marketplace, which allow customers to build a custom tech stack that suits their needs.

The new funding follows a year of significant growth. Mews had a revenue increase of over 60% year-on-year and more than 16 million annual hotel check-ins worldwide.

The startup also acquired three more hospitality companies (Frontdesk Anywhere, Hotello, and Nomi), bringing its total number of acquisitions to eight. Currently, around 5,000 customers use its platform to manage over 350,000 hospitality spaces.

With the fresh capital, Mews will focus on its R&D, global expansion, and future acquisitions. The round was led by existing investor Kinnevik alongside Reavaia, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Notion Capital, and LGVP.

“We’re very proud to reach [the unicorn] milestone, and to have the backing of world-class investors, but there is still so much to do,” Valtr said, adding that it’s “always day one” for Mews.

Mews is now the 32nd unicorn bred in the Netherlands, joining the likes of Booking, Adyen, and bunq.