Kayak-Backed Hotel Startup Life House Raises New Funding at $250 Million Valuation

(Bloomberg) -- Life House, a New York-based startup that provides management software for independent hotels, raised $60 million in funding from investors including online travel agency Kayak, valuing the company at $250 million. 

Life House’s software handles the operations and finances of independent hotels, without owning the actual real estate. The company provides revenue and payroll management, check-in kiosks and other features for hotels from Miami to Taos, New Mexico. Life House generates revenue by charging hotels a fee on their sales or profit.

Founded in 2017, the company has grown quickly during the pandemic, boosting the number of hotels it operates to 51 at the end of November from eight in March 2020. Hotel managers largely ignored their operational problems before the pandemic because they could, but Covid-19 placed a premium on good management, said founder and Chief Executive Officer Rami Zeidan. 

When the pandemic forced hotels to shutter in the early days of the pandemic, they “realized their operators and managers were asleep at the wheel and they had a lot of problems,” he said. Life House benefited because “we’re solving an operational problem.”

The latest round of financing also included Montreal-based Inovia Capital, Tiger Global Management and early venture firm Thayer Ventures. Zeidan said the new money will be used to help the company expand its operations and partner with new hotels. 

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