Munich, November 21, 2019 – All signs of the times identified: The hotel industry is in a state of upheaval. The impending recession, the shortage of skilled staff and the demands of guests for automated solutions are causing an urgently needed rethink among decision-makers in the hospitality industry. More and more operators are using online check-in/check-out or digital keys to save personnel and costs and thus remain competitive. Founded in 2015, the Munich-based technology company hotelbird has made it its mission to make the hotel experience for guests as easy as possible with innovative software solutions.

For the extension of its market leadership in the area of digital check-in/-out services hotelbird was now able to convince further important investors. New on board are BitStone Capital and Apeiron Investment Group. Already in 2018 hotelbird had obtained financing from BayBG Bayerische Beteiligungsgesellschaft and HANNOVER Finanz. With the new investment, the seed financing has been successfully concluded with a total of EUR 3.5 million.

In only four years hotelbird has established itself as the leading German provider of digital check-in/-out services, with prestigious hotel chains such as Deutsche Hospitality, H-Hotels, Lindner Hotels and NOVUM Hospitality among its customers. “The hotel trade stands momentarily at the turning point. Digital services have become essential in modern hotels and are indispensable especially in times of a shortage of skilled workers and rising rents,” explains Juan A. Sanmiguel, founder and CEO of hotelbird. “The second round of financing by our new partners BitStone Capital and Apeiron proves the high level of trust in our company. We are also very pleased with the commitment because the timing of the investment is perfect. The hospitality industry is now urgently looking for solutions to current hurdles, which we already offer with our innovative products. In order to develop the market leadership within the range digital Check-in/-out services in Germany, hotelbird increases its marketing activities owing to the successful financing round and hires further coworkers.

The internationally operating venture capital investor and company builder BitStone Capital not only invests in innovative digital real asset business models, but also accelerates their development with its own resources. Kai Panitzki, Managing Director of BitStoneCapital explains: “The timing for our entry into hotelbird couldn’t be better. There is an enormous dynamic in the hospitality industry at the moment, which is certainly also driven by current problems such as the search for specialists. We are pleased to support hotelbird with our excellent industry know-how and our specific expertise in new technologies.

The focus of the Apeiron Investment Group is among others on the sectors Fintech & Crypto Assets, Biotech and Internet & Technology. With Christian Angermayer, founder of the Apeiron Investment Group, hotelbird has gained a renowned partner with a strong network, in particular to international investors: “We see great potential for hotelbird especially internationally. The automation of services is currently turning the global hotel landscape upside down. hotelbird offers the perfect solution and is therefore also interesting for large US investors. fffffffffffffff