Astound Ventures launches, laser focused on driving net unit margin - 'NUM'

Passionate hoteliers Alex Cabañas, Burt Cabañas and Kirk Jones are raising a unique collaborative fund to invest in companies that drive value to real estate owners, operators and brands by reinventing real estate operations and workflows and elevating guest and employee experiences. 

THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Sept. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The father-and-son team of Burt and Alex Cabañas know from their collective 60 years in the hospitality business that the only way to better drive bottom-line profitability in today's inflationary business environment is to look deeper "inside the box" to drive net unit margin – "NUM" – through both hotel experience and efficiency innovation.

"In May 2025, in the midst of a family discussion, the idea of venture investing in our own industry where we can drive meaningful influence came up," Alex Cabañas said. "Then, after conversations with more than 300 industry collaborators, we prioritized investing our own money in and raising a fund for investing in companies that drive tangible value to the bottom line by reinventing real estate operations and workflows."

To that end, they created Astound Ventures, a unique "collaborative investment fund" with owners, operators and brands targeting an initial goal of raising $30 million and, importantly, raising all of that money from the collaborator community. "Our fund serves as not only a good investment but also a strategic one, benefiting our core businesses, Pyramid Global Hospitality and Convene Hospitality Group," Cabañas said.

Astound's chairman is Burt Cabañas, founder and chairman of Benchmark Resorts & Hotels, a global hospitality company, and co-chairman of hotel management company Pyramid. CEO is Alex Cabañas, who is Pyramid executive chairman and a board member of meetings and events-focused Convene. Another founding partner is CFO Kirk Jones, previously CFO of Benchmark and Capella Hotels, who has a background in hospitality finance, investment analysis and enterprise strategy that complements the operating expertise of Burt and Alex Cabañas. Together, they combine decades of executive leadership to identify innovation capable of delivering measurable financial returns for owners while accelerating adoption through Astound's extensive industry network.

"Risk aversion, misaligned interest, lack of investment and slow adoption gets in our way – we must adapt faster," said Alex Cabañas. "We must accelerate testing, adoption and scaling of innovation through more direct investment in the solutions. The hospitality industry shouldn't wait for Silicon Valley to solve hospitality's problems. The people closest to those problems should be the ones building and investing in the solutions. If we don't improve NUM, everyone in our ecosystem suffers."

Astound has already invested in 10 companies with a goal to invest in up top 20 companies over a three-year investment period while also creating a network of industry leaders to influence the creation of solutions that drive value beyond the fund. "Our entire fund will be smart money – industry investors, not institutional allocations," Cabañas said. "This is our industry's opportunity to align, invest in and solve for our own industry problems that degrade value. We are searching for work horses, not unicorns."

To date, Astound has engaged with more than 100 solution providers and has raised more than $8 million for the fund. Cabañas said the venture will work to get in front of the tectonic shift in revenue, operations and distribution created by artificial intelligence.

Initial investments have been made in sustainable tissue solutions; heated outdoor furniture; purpose-built, mobile point-of-sale technology; a wireless open-source energy management solution; technology-enabling autonomous travel; and multiple travel management and meetings-related solutions, among others. "As evidenced by this variety of investments, technology is not the only focus of Astound; the focus is any product, service or technology that improves NUM," Cabañas said.

"Astound Ventures fast-tracked our credibility," said Ludovic Siouffi, co-founder and CEO of sustainable tissue solution Fox Fold Products Inc. "Their influence put us face to face with CEOs and owners of top hotel management companies, saving us years of cold outreach and credibility building. Total game changer."

Kevin Long, founder and CEO of Outmore Living, a heated-seat technology solution for outdoor living, said Astound Ventures has delivered far more than capital. "Their deep roots in hospitality have translated directly into qualified leads, strategic relationships and faster deal velocity," he said. "They operate like true partners by leaning in, making introductions and helping us turn opportunities into long-term customers."

To further the mission of Astound Ventures, Alex and Burt Cabañas also created Astound Collaborators, a global network of real estate leaders and operators with significant influence and a desire to push the status quo in real estate operations. The list is an esteemed collection of leaders, literally the who's who.

The gathering of collaborators started over a year ago – one phone call after another sharing the idea of Astound. The network expanded organically and via references and relationships. "The more people we and our partners spoke to about Astound, the more people wanted to be a part of the community," Alex Cabañas said. Every week, Astound adds new collaborators as its message and mission are shared.

Astound Collaborators includes leaders from not only hotel owners, brands and management companies but also key hotel industry partners and other adjacent real estate classes.

"We raise influence first, leading with industry credibility and trust," Cabañas said. "Together, we are focused on the unlock of real estate value constrained by structural, cultural and technological barriers. Our involvement drives sales leads, de-risks execution and promotes product development and market feedback. It provides a cheat code in terms of access. Too many pilots without owners at the ground level never scale. Our approach will have fewer wasted pilots."

About Astound Ventures

Astound Ventures is a collaborative investment fund based in The Woodlands, Texas, that invests in companies that drive tangible value to real estate owners, operators and brands by reinventing real estate operations and workflows as well as accelerating testing, adoption and scaling of innovations through more direct investment in the solutions.

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SOURCE Astound Ventures