Munich-based apaleo is a hospitality tech cloud platform provider. In a recent development, the company has announced that it closed €4.5 million (nearly £3.9 million) in Series A funding round.
London VC pumps funds
The pan European venture capital group that have invested in apaleo consists of the lead investor, Force Over Mass from London, Redalpine from Zurich, and Bayern Kapital from Munich.
Martin Reichenbach, co-founder and COO of the company said: “We are proud to continuously grow apaleo on a global scale despite the worst crisis our industry has ever seen. Getting three renowned Venture Capitalists on board allows us to foster investments in our disruptive technology platform.” apaleo assembled its team around a group of experienced founders, hotel experts, and some of the best platform developers in the world.”
Uli Pillau, co-founder and CEO of apaleo said: “apaleo is exactly what hotel groups, hotels and other accommodation providers have been demanding for on the technology side for a long time. It is the true platform approach where any hotelier can select their preferred technology as needed and without boundaries, and where any app out there can connect quickly and at no cost. We will continue the disruption alongside our forward-thinking community, driving our strategy since the birth of apaleo.”
Lucas Stoops, Investment Manager at Force Over Mass, commented: “We have been impressed by apaleo’s flexible, unified-API-based platform, which has enjoyed strong demand despite widespread industry disruption. apaleo’s offering stands out for its scalability and the enthusiasm it attracts from customers and developers alike. apaleo’s team is extremely impressive and we are excited to join them on this journey.”
SaaS subscription model
Established in 2017, apaleo works with the vision to drive innovation in the hospitality industry and enable the #FreedomToCreate to both the accommodation providers and the third-party app developers. It developed an open API-driven cloud platform that revolutionises hospitality technology and property management.
The company takes a unique approach in the industry called API-first, which lets any accommodation provider to build and run their technology in a cost-efficient way. This includes the migration from older legacy systems as well. This makes it easy for hotels to switch to a pure SaaS subscription model from the CAPEX-heavy license model sans any upfront fees.
The products from apaleo are fully self-serviceable and clients can set up their technology stack seamlessly on top of the platform. apaleo’s app store gives any app or software firm the opportunity to fully connect, market, and distribute their products directly to its users.
To facilitate the development of new apps, apaleo has become the de facto standard in the hospitality industry. Many innovative teams start their development project right on the apaleo platform with its open API. Eventually, its users are the first to have access to ground-breaking hotel apps.
Growth amidst pandemic crisis
The world of hospitality technology has been dominated by legacy, hosted, or cloud property management systems. While these providers market open APIs, experience from their customers and technology partners does not support that claim and they remain all-in-one systems. It is possible to achieve a true scalable platform approach only by a company that uses API-first architecture.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, apaleo grew its client base significantly despite the issues faced by the industry. apaleo users reported an increase in operations efficiency due to automation and improved digital guest experience based on the seamless integrations of guest facing third-party apps. This was possible as Its APIs allow any accommodation provider to stay relevant in times of constantly changing traveler expectations.
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