9flats

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.[3]

9flats.com
Type of site
Privately held company
Founded2010 (2010), Launch: March 2011 (2011-03)
HeadquartersSingapore[1]
OwnereVentures, Redpoint, T-Ventures, Founders
Founder(s)Stephan Uhrenbacher
Roman Bach
Key peopleStephan Uhrenbacher, Chairman
IndustryLodging
URLwww.9flats.com
Alexa rank582,201 (As of 3 May 2020)[2]

The site competes with Airbnb.[4]

It has over 50,000 members and 30,000 hosts in 104 countries.[5]

History

9flats was launched by German internet entrepreneur Stephan Uhrenbacher – founder of Qype, and former head of northern European operations for lastminute.com.[6]

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.[7]

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.[8][9][10]

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.[11][12]

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).[13]

In August 2012, 9flats acquired Toronto-based competitor iStopOver, extending its service to North America and growing its property base to 100.000 apartments.[14][15][16]

In August 2012, Wired ranked the company 6th on its list of hottest startups in Berlin.[17]

In March 2013, 9flats introduced bitcoin as payment method.[18][19]

In February 2014, Roman Bach was named CEO; he vacated that post in April 2016. Uhrenbacher moved to the advisory board.[6]

In 2014, 9flats announced that it is the first profitable player in the social travel industry.[6]

In November 2014, 9flats made prepayment optional and allowed user to pay with cash.[20]

In October 2016, 9flats acquired Wimdu.[21][22]

In December 2016, 9flats sold Wimdu to the Novasol brand of Wyndham Destinations.[23]

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References
  1. "9FLATS: Legal info". 9flats.
  2. "Alexa Internet: 9flats.com". Alexa Internet.
  3. Couts, Andrew (23 May 2011). "Travel hotel-free by finding unique lodging online". Digital Trends.
  4. Palmer, Maija (28 October 2011). "Berlin emerges as technology challenger". Financial Times.
  5. "9flats.com". 9flats LinkedIn page. LinkedIn.
  6. O'Hear, Steve (February 20, 2014). "9flats Founder Steps Down From CEO As Hamburg-Based Airbnb Competitor Breaks Even". TechCrunch.
  7. Seiderer, Sophia (16 March 2012). "Schlafplatzvermittlung im Internet: Von Sofa bis Penthouse". Die Welt.
  8. Bradshaw, Tim (31 May 2011). "Airbnb moves 'aggressively' into Europe". Financial Times.
  9. May, Kevin (May 17, 2011). "9Flats apartment rental platform brings total funding to $10M". Phocuswire.
  10. O'Hear, Steve (May 17, 2011). "9flats, the European Airbnb, secures 'major investment' from Silicon Valleys' Redpoint". TechCrunch.
  11. "9flats banks on security and customer service to make it big in Asia". Northstar Travel Group. March 27, 2012.
  12. Wen, Chin Hui (November 16, 2012). "Airbnb sets up Singapore office". SG Magazine.
  13. Bernau, Varinia (12 January 2012). "Was die Telekom mit Groupon und 9flats vorhat". Süddeutsche Zeitung.
  14. O'Hear, Steve (August 6, 2012). "9flats Acquires iStopOver To Put The Heat On Airbnb, Doubles Its Rentals Capacity". TechCrunch.
  15. Meyer, David (August 6, 2012). "Airbnb rivals consolidate as 9flats picks up iStopOver". Gigaom.
  16. May, Kevin (August 7, 2012). "9Flats buys iStopOver, targets home turf of Airbnb". Phocuswire.
  17. PEMBERTON, ANDY (15 August 2012). "Europe's 100 hottest startups 2012: Berlin". Wired.
  18. Vigna, Paul (20 November 2013). "Bitcoin Couple Travels the World Using Virtual Cash". The Wall Street Journal.
  19. Prabu, Karthick (April 16, 2013). "9Flats pushes digital currency Bitcoin as form of payment". Phocuswire.
  20. O'Neil, Sean (November 26, 2014). "9Flats makes prepayment optional, allows cash for home rentals". Phocuswire.
  21. Sheivachman, Andrew (October 10, 2016). "Airbnb's Most Well-Funded European Rival Wimdu Is Acquired by 9flats". Skift.
  22. O'Neil, Sean (October 9, 2016). "Wimdu and 9flats combine into one short-term rental company". Phocuswire.
  23. Whyte, Patrick (December 5, 2016). "Wyndham Steps Up Investment in Sharing Economy With Two New European Deals". Skift.
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