Fornova Raises $17m in Series B Round from Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners (DTCP), Waypoint Capital and JAL Ventures to Accelerate Adoption of its Intelligence-Based Technology for Hotels

LONDON and NEW YORK, May 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Fornova today announced the closing of a $17M series B financing round to further accelerate the growth of its disruptive market intelligence and market visibility solutions for hotels worldwide. The Series B round was led by Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners (DTCP), with participation from Waypoint Capital and existing investor JAL Ventures.

In a worldwide hotel market encompassing hundreds of thousands of hotels and millions of rooms, Fornova's early-stage growth trajectory has been impressive. More than 13,000 hotels have already adopted its solutions, including brands such as Marriott, Hilton, NH Hotels, and Premier Inn. Revenues have grown more than 100% in the past twelve months. Fornova now employs more than 115 professionals in five offices around the world.

Fornova's CEO, Dori Stein, said, "The hotel industry is at an inflection point in its struggle to optimize online revenue and drive sales. In spite of the proliferation of new technologies and revenue solutions, hoteliers continue to overlook the fundamentally dynamic nature of the online marketplace. As a result, they are missing important insights on how their products are priced online, how to distribute them effectively, and how to optimize the booking path to their advantage." He concluded, "Fornova's patented technologies provide an unprecedented toolset to help hoteliers turn the tide in their favor, succeeding in this dynamic and fast-changing marketplace. Our products are pioneering new ways to meet the needs of today's hoteliers – and we look forward to the exciting journey ahead, with our new investors and hotel partners."

Fornova's technologies for scanning, extracting and analysing massive amounts of information from the online marketplace provide a two-tiered solution:

• Its market intelligence product allows hotels to collect and analyse all the available information from the market, to better understand how their hotels are priced, ranked and presented on the different online marketing channels.
• Its channelling and market visibility product translates the data analysis into actions, which have direct effect on the bottom line – reflected in occupancy and direct brand.com sales.

"Fornova's cutting edge technology equips travel providers with the precision tools needed to stay ahead of competition," stated Thomas Preuss, Partner at DTCP. "We are happy to support Fornova's growth and development as a pioneer and technology leader in this space. We see a strong demand for a transparent and powerful business intelligence tool from all actors in the market. Proprietary data and comprehensive coverage of all sales channels are crucial determination factors in the increasingly competitive hospitality market."

"We welcome both DTCP and Waypoint on board," said Joshua Levinberg, JAL Ventures Co-Founder. "As an early investor, we are excited about their contributions and look forward to a bright future as Fornova accelerates its growth."  

"Waypoint is happy to partner with Fornova at this highly significant moment in the company's development," said Frederic Wohlwend, Head of Group Strategic Development and Chief Digital Officer at Waypoint Capital. "We are focused on high growth innovative investments and have immense enthusiasm for Fornova's future."

Fornova will use the new investment to grow sales, marketing and productization worldwide, and make its data even more actionable - helping hotels optimize brand visibility online, efficiently drive traffic to brand.com websites, improve occupancy and close more bookings. Fornova's technology has its roots in the company's Goldenfeeds product, which helps drive conversion for dozens of the world's top retail, fashion and mobile companies – including Nike, Nordstrom, IKEA and Gucci.

For more information on Fornova, visit www.fornova.com.

About Fornova

Fornova's intelligence-based technology drives dynamic online distribution for the hotel industry. Based in Israel with offices in London, Amsterdam, New York and Ukraine, Fornova's solutions are gaining rapid adoption, serving more than 13,000 hotels worldwide, and have won recognition as the most cutting edge market intelligence and market visibility tools available.

About Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners (DTCP)

DTCP provides venture capital, private equity, and advisory services to the technology, media and telecommunication sectors. Operating as a bridge between Europe, Silicon Valley and Israel, the company connects people, capital, and ideas to accelerate innovation and provide value to its portfolio companies, its limited partners, and the connected world.

To learn more about DTCP, visit www.telekom-capital.com or @TelekomCapital on Twitter.

About JAL Ventures

JAL Ventures Fund provides expansion capital to fast growing, revenue generating technology companies in Israel. The fund's management team brings decades of experience and strong track record as entrepreneurs, executives and investors. JAL investment sectors include Enterprise tech, SaaS, Cyber Security & Defense.  For more information visit www.jalventures.com.

About Waypoint Capital

Waypoint Capital and the businesses created by it advise and also manage directly a broad portfolio of companies and investments in healthcare, medical technologies and asset management, including real estate. Headquartered in Geneva, it has offices in London, Jersey, Boston and Luxembourg. For more information, visit www.waypointcapital.net.

Contact:   Michael Frenkel, MFC PR
               for Fornova
               (201) 317-7035/ [email protected]

SOURCE Fornova