4th January 2023

Czech tech startup Mews raises four billion for expansion

This is Mews' third investment round, for example, in its last Series B investment in 2019, the company raised $33 million from Boston-based investment fund Battery Ventures. In the past year, other companies have joined the list of investors: the bank Goldman Sachs, Sweden's Kinnevik, Notion Capital, Revaia, Czech Orbit Capital and many others. Mews plans to use the capital raised for further product innovation, global expansion and new acquisitions

Founders Richard Valtr and Matthijs Welle came up with the idea of an innovative cloud environment that hoteliers and guests could appreciate back in 2012. It was already clear from the company's inception that the Czech market would be too small for the company (the company is now based in Amsterdam) and the expected global expansion was reflected, for example, in the fact that everyone communicated with each other in English. The real test then was the beginning of the pandemic, when the tourism and hotel sector took a severe blow and Mews had to lay off almost 40% of its staff, but the company managed to overcome these difficult times and return to growth.

Mews has grown mainly through acquisitions, with more than five transactions in the last few years alone. For example, in 2021 it bought UK firm Hotel Perfect, last year it acquired software firm Bizzon, which specialises in digital POS systems, and bought Norwegian rival Cenium, strengthening its position in Northern Europe.

Mews already operates more than 3,200 properties in 70 countries and has offices in Prague, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Barcelona and Sydney, to name a few.

 

Members of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic