Maximojo Software Pvt Ltd, a startup focused on delivering cloud-based distribution and revenue management solutions for hotels, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Mumbai Angels (MA) and a few unnamed hoteliers. MA led the round, and as part of the investment, Jai Advani, a seasoned hotelier, will join the board of the company.
Ashpi Gupta, lead investor for MA, said, “The investment rationale for us was the ease of offerings by Maximojo to the untapped market and extremely positive reviews from hoteliers using the product and the growing size of the market.â€
The startup was founded by Sudhir Mody (CEO) in February 2011. Maximojo, is a cloud-based SAAS company based in India (Pune), with an office in the US. It aims to bring all of India’s 80,000 plus hotel and lodging establishments onto the internet grid of online travel agents (OTA’s), thereby increasing the current share of online booking revenues from eight per cent to around 50 per cent by 2016.
Maximojo recently expanded its marketing/sales network to Europe and is now looking to expand product offerings to include next generation analytics and yield management tools for hotels to enhance revenue and profitability. It will probably use the funds for this purpose.
"Hotels that have found it difficult to manage online room sales can use Maximojo Mantras’ ecosystem to contract with online travel agents. They can then use the platform to manage their online inventory and rates in real time," said Advani.
MA has invested in over 50 companies with eight partial/full exits and has had follow-on rounds in over 12 companies. It has made investments across sectors like IT, education, mobile, healthcare, e-commerce, cloud computing, financial and business services.
Its key investments include Inmobi, Apalya, Myntra, Canvera, Cnergyis, Reverse Logistics, Screampoint and Serial Innovation. Here’s a look at its investments this year.
Jan: Invested up to Rs 5 crore in Bangalore-based Start-up eDreams Edusoft, a disruptive technology product startup focused on the education industry.
Feb: Invested around Rs 1 crore in Bangalore-based education technology start-up Carveniche.
March: Invested Rs 2.5 crore along with Blume Ventures in Bangalore-based cloud telephony startup Exotel Techcom Pvt Ltd, which offers cloud-based business phone systems to SMEs.
April: Invested $1 million along with Blume Ventures, India Venture Partners (Mauritius) and Christopher Preinz and Associates (EU) in Bangalore-based United Mobile Apps Pvt Ltd (UMA), a mobile, broadband and wireless technology firm.
June: Pune-based gaming startup Rolocule Games Pvt Ltd raised undisclosed angel funding from Mumbai Angels and Blume Ventures.
July: Invested an undisclosed amount along with Your Nest Angel Fund in online (and on phone) cab booking service BookMyCab, run by the startup LiveMinds Solutions Pvt Ltd.
(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)