HotelOnline has acquired HotelPlus, a software provider with clients in 22 countries.
The full terms of the transcation were not disclosed but Eric Muliro, who founded Hotel Plus 13 years ago is getting aPayout and 1.9 million shares in HotelOnline, which was valued at $24 million before the deal. Muliro has been hired as HotelOnline's chief technology officer.
According to HotelOnline, the deal has increased its customers by over 2200 and opened the door for additional customers and unique offerings.
Havar Bauck, co-founder of HotelOnline, said that they are increasing their client base while taking advantage of the strengths of both companies.
Bauck said that the integration opportunity with the cloud solutions was created because the HotelPlus clients use on-premise software.
A deal like this helps build a strong African travel-tech player with a local and continental foothold. We aim to contribute to this through our stake in Hotel Online. The new company has great potential and we are looking forward to the journey from here.
Hotels can use HotelOnline to increase their visibility online. It helps its clients to deploy booking engines and gain prominence on distribution channels like Booking.com, as well as equip them with the capacity to manage operations on their own platforms using cloud-based digital tools. Management services are also offered to property owners.
HotelOnline said it is planning an aggressive expansion across Africa, where it currently has over 6,000 clients spread across 27 countries, by tapping HotelPlus's reseller network and the growing hotel industry. The immediate plan is to get a dominant position in East Africa and to be a powerful pan- African player.
Hotel Plus has built an impressive commercial organization, with skilled sales people, a high- performance network, and a wide range of products and services. Bauck said that integrating these resources prepared the ground for expansion.
HotelOnline closed its Series A funding earlier in the year and was backed by Booking.com and Softbank. Over 43,000 customers in 170 markets are served by the cloud-based solutions offered byYanolja.
HotelOnline has the financial power to cut deals and make investments that will help it scale and expand in its current and target markets thanks to the support ofYanolja. A group of angel investors from Nigeria are one of HotelOnline's investors.
SoftBank-backed travel tech startup Yanolja acquires Korean e-commerce company Interpark
US-based fintech Umba buys majority stake in Kenya’s Daraja microfinance bank
All Rights Reserved © 2024
