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9flats

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
9flats.com
Type of site
Privately held company
Founded2010; 14 years ago (2010), Launch: March 2011; 13 years ago (2011-03)
HeadquartersSingapore[1]
OwnereVentures, Redpoint, T-Ventures, Founders
Founder(s)Stephan Uhrenbacher
Roman Bach
Key peopleStephan Uhrenbacher, Chairman
IndustryLodging
URLwww.9flats.com

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

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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

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