9flats
Type of site | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2010, Launch: March 2011 |
| Headquarters | Singapore[1] |
| Owner | eVentures, Redpoint, T-Ventures, Founders |
| Founder(s) | Stephan Uhrenbacher Roman Bach |
| Key people | Stephan Uhrenbacher, Chairman |
| Industry | Lodging |
| URL | www |
9flats is an online marketplace enabling people to lease or rent short-term lodging. The company does not own any lodging; it is merely a broker and receives commissions from both guests and hosts in conjunction with every booking.[2]
The site competes with Airbnb.[3]
It has over 50,000 members and 30,000 hosts in 104 countries.[4]
History
9flats was launched by German internet entrepreneur Stephan Uhrenbacher – founder of Qype, and former head of northern European operations for lastminute.com.[5]
The founders secured funding from venture capital fund E.ventures (CityDeal/Groupon) and launched 9flats.com in February 2011 with an inventory of 5,000 places.[6]
In May 2011, 9flats secured another round of investment from venture capital funds Redpoint Ventures (HomeAway), ProFounder (ex-lastminute.com) and Greycroft Partners, bringing the total funding to US$10 million.[7][8][9]
In late 2011, 9flats became the first well-known European or North American company in the social travel space to open an Asian office in Singapore, led by VP of Asia Ng Wei Leen, establishing a presence ahead of global competitors like Airbnb.[10][11]
In January 2012, 9flats completed a round of funding led by T-Venture, the venture capital arm of Deutsche Telekom AG. This round included Redpoint Ventures and E-Venture Capital Partners (Hamburg).[12]
In August 2012, 9flats acquired Toronto-based competitor iStopOver, extending its service to North America and growing its property base to 100.000 apartments.[13][14][15]
In August 2012, Wired ranked the company 6th on its list of hottest startups in Berlin.[16]
In March 2013, 9flats introduced bitcoin as payment method.[17][18]
In February 2014, Roman Bach was named CEO; he vacated that post in April 2016. Uhrenbacher moved to the advisory board.[5]
In 2014, 9flats announced that it is the first profitable player in the social travel industry.[5]
In November 2014, 9flats made prepayment optional and allowed user to pay with cash.[19]
In October 2016, 9flats acquired Wimdu.[20][21]
In December 2016, 9flats sold Wimdu to the Novasol brand of Wyndham Destinations.[22]
References
- ^ "9FLATS: Legal info". 9flats.
- ^ Couts, Andrew (23 May 2011). "Travel hotel-free by finding unique lodging online". Digital Trends.
- ^ Palmer, Maija (28 October 2011). "Berlin emerges as technology challenger". Financial Times.
- ^ "9flats.com". 9flats LinkedIn page. LinkedIn.
- ^ a b c O'Hear, Steve (February 20, 2014). "9flats Founder Steps Down From CEO As Hamburg-Based Airbnb Competitor Breaks Even". TechCrunch.
- ^ Seiderer, Sophia (16 March 2012). "Schlafplatzvermittlung im Internet: Von Sofa bis Penthouse". Die Welt.
- ^ Bradshaw, Tim (31 May 2011). "Airbnb moves 'aggressively' into Europe". Financial Times.
- ^ May, Kevin (May 17, 2011). "9Flats apartment rental platform brings total funding to $10M". Phocuswire.
- ^ O'Hear, Steve (May 17, 2011). "9flats, the European Airbnb, secures 'major investment' from Silicon Valleys' Redpoint". TechCrunch.
- ^ "9flats banks on security and customer service to make it big in Asia". Northstar Travel Group. March 27, 2012.
- ^ Wen, Chin Hui (November 16, 2012). "Airbnb sets up Singapore office". SG Magazine.
- ^ Bernau, Varinia (12 January 2012). "Was die Telekom mit Groupon und 9flats vorhat". Süddeutsche Zeitung.
- ^ O'Hear, Steve (August 6, 2012). "9flats Acquires iStopOver To Put The Heat On Airbnb, Doubles Its Rentals Capacity". TechCrunch.
- ^ Meyer, David (August 6, 2012). "Airbnb rivals consolidate as 9flats picks up iStopOver". Gigaom.
- ^ May, Kevin (August 7, 2012). "9Flats buys iStopOver, targets home turf of Airbnb". Phocuswire.
- ^ PEMBERTON, ANDY (15 August 2012). "Europe's 100 hottest startups 2012: Berlin". Wired.
- ^ Vigna, Paul (20 November 2013). "Bitcoin Couple Travels the World Using Virtual Cash". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Prabu, Karthick (April 16, 2013). "9Flats pushes digital currency Bitcoin as form of payment". Phocuswire.
- ^ O'Neil, Sean (November 26, 2014). "9Flats makes prepayment optional, allows cash for home rentals". Phocuswire.
- ^ Sheivachman, Andrew (October 10, 2016). "Airbnb's Most Well-Funded European Rival Wimdu Is Acquired by 9flats". Skift.
- ^ O'Neil, Sean (October 9, 2016). "Wimdu and 9flats combine into one short-term rental company". Phocuswire.
- ^ Whyte, Patrick (December 5, 2016). "Wyndham Steps Up Investment in Sharing Economy With Two New European Deals". Skift.