Hotel Booking Platform, FindMyStay, Raises Funding From IAN

Delhi-based FindMyStay, a reverse bidding platform for hotel booking, has raised an undisclosed amount of Pre-Series A funding from the Indian Angel Network (IAN). Rishi Parti and Yogesh Bansal led this round.

Founded in 2012 by Rohit Khetrapal and Simran Sial, FindMyStay helps customers to book hotels, by connecting them in real-time with hotels that are looking to sell the inventory they foresee going unsold.

Rohit Khetrapal, co-founder, FindMyStay, said, “On an average, 50% of a hotel’s inventory lies vacant. By making customers bid their price for this inventory and getting hotels to accept it, we are clearly creating widespread disruption in our category. On an average, our customers end up saving 25% more than when they opt for larger OTAs and last minute hotel booking apps.”

FindMyStay will use the funds towards product development, brand building and also enhancing its technology. The platform is also aiming to double its hotel partnerships and to increase coverage of cities in the next phase of growth.

Hotel booking has recently seen a huge spurt in the number of suppliers. The Indian online hotel booking market is estimated to reach $1.8 Bn by the end of 2016 as compared to $0.8 Bn in 2014.

The platform called ‘Your Stay at Your Price’ enables customers to bid their price for the hotel they would like to stay in. Then, the hotels that accept this price offer are shown to the customer in a one to one environment. FindMyStay’s model of empowering customers to offer their price to the hotel through the reverse bidding process helps customers to save money. On the other hand it helps hotels to generate more revenue from distressed inventory in one go.

Currently, FindMyStay has more than 2,000 hotels on its platform across 35 plus Indian cities. Some of the key partners include the Lalit Group, The Park, Pride Group, Ginger Hotels, OYO Rooms, etc. It is available on web and both android and iOS platforms.

The Indian Angel Network has close to 400 investors from 10 countries; its presence spans 7 locations, which includes cities in India and UK. IAN has invested in startups from diverse industries/sectors in over 55 ventures over the last two years. With over 100-odd companies,  its portfolio spans 17 sectors across 7 countries. Prior to this in June 2016,  IAN invested an undisclosed amount in Gurgaon-based Staqu, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) focused research startup working in automated image understanding technology. Bikky Khosla, Neeraj Singal and Ajay Gupta led the round on behalf of IAN.