Travel Tech Startup Pinktada Raises Another Round of Funding to Accelerate its Expansion
Hospitality and Web3 investors further invest $975,000 to transform hotel reservations with NFT and smart contract technologies
US-based Pinktada, a technology company transforming the way hotel reservations are made, announced the closing of additional investment to support its rapid
expansion with the contracting of dozens of new hotel properties in key leisure destinations.
The new sum of $975,000 includes participation from Selenean Capital, an Ireland-based fund, and of serial high net worth investors. They join backers True Global Ventures 4 Plus–which has invested $2M to date–and several members of the New York Angels investment group.
Launched in Q2 this year, Pinktada enables travelers to book a specific room, and swap or sell their reservation in an online marketplace if their plans change. In addition, they can immerse themselves in hotel rooms and amenities, increasing their enthusiasm and willingness to make a non-refundable reservation.
Hotel partners enjoy guaranteed prepaid sales, additional revenue from upgrade and up-sell features, and the powerful benefits of shared data. Furthermore, even if they are fully booked hotels can get additional revenue from secondary transactions that realize a profit.
“We are thrilled with the market validation we are receiving”, said Mark J. Gordon, Chief Hospitality Officer. “We launched in May with properties in Hawaii and the Dominican Republic, and have since added exquisite hotels in Mexico, New York, Miami and San Francisco. We also have another 18 in the process of being on-boarded. More importantly though is the caliber of our partners, which are leading hotel names in the industry.”
As a result of the increased supply of hotels on Pinktada, membership grew 20% in August and 40% in September 2022.
“Selenean Capital’s approach to the partnership is identifying real world future needs and then working relentlessly to achieve those goals. Pinktada encapsulates this perfectly with a transformational approach to the hotel booking model built around a brilliant team. We look forward to the partnership and journey with them”, said Warren Macken, Selenean’s Managing Partner.
“We could not be more excited about our prospects”, said Lyon Hardgrave, Pinktada’s CEO. “This investment reflects the significant progress we have made this year. It will allow us to accelerate the onboarding of new hotels, dial up marketing efforts, and continue to evolve our technology to embrace other large opportunities.”
