9flats is an

online marketplace An online marketplace (or online e-commerce marketplace) is a type of e-commerce website where product or service information is provided by multiple third parties. Online marketplaces are the primary type of multichannel ecommerce and can be a wa ...

enabling people to lease or rent short-term

lodging Lodging refers to the use of a short-term dwelling, usually by renting the living space or sometimes through some other arrangement. People who travel and stay away from home for more than a day need lodging for sleep, rest, food, safety, shelt ...

. The company does not own any lodging; it is merely a

broker A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be con ...

and receives commissions from both guests and hosts in conjunction with every booking. The site competes with

Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( ), based in San Francisco, California, operates an online marketplace focused on short-term homestays and experiences. The company acts as a broker and charges a commission from each booking. The company was founded in 2008 b ...

. It has over 50,000 members and 30,000 hosts in 104 countries.

History

9flats was launched by German internet entrepreneur Stephan Uhrenbacher – founder of Qype, and former head of northern European operations for lastminute.com. The founders secured funding from venture capital fund

E.ventures Headline, formerly e.ventures and BV Capital, is a global venture capital firm with an early-stage investment approach in the markets of Adtech, Commerce, Fintech, Media, Mobile and Software. It was founded in 1997 in Santa Barbara, California ...

(CityDeal/

Groupon Groupon is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in 13 countries. Based in Chicago, Groupon was launched there in November 2008, launching soon af ...

) and launched 9flats.com in February 2011 with an inventory of 5,000 places. In May 2011, 9flats secured another round of investment from venture capital funds

Redpoint Ventures Redpoint Ventures is an American venture capital firm focused on investments in seed, early and growth-stage companies. History The firm was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, with offices in San Francisco, Los Ange ...

(

HomeAway HomeAway was a vacation rental marketplace. It operated through 50 websites in 23 languages through which it offered rentals of cabins, condos, castles, villas, barns, and farmhouses. Founded in February 2005 and headquartered in Austin, Texas ...

), ProFounder (ex- lastminute.com) and

Greycroft Partners Greycroft is an American venture capital firm. It manages over $2 billion in capital with investments in companies such as Bird, Bumble, HuffPost, Goop, Scopely, The RealReal, and Venmo. Greycroft was founded in 2006 by Alan Patricof, Dana Set ...

, bringing the total funding to US$10 million. 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. In January 2012, 9flats completed a round of funding led by

T-Venture Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...

, the venture capital arm of

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...

AG. This round included

and E-Venture Capital Partners (Hamburg). In August 2012, 9flats acquired Toronto-based competitor , extending its service to North America and growing its property base to 100.000 apartments. In August 2012, ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'' ranked the company 6th on its list of hottest startups in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. In March 2013, 9flats introduced

bitcoin Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...

as payment method. In February 2014, Roman Bach was named CEO; he vacated that post in April 2016. Uhrenbacher moved to the advisory board. In 2014, 9flats announced that it is the first profitable player in the social travel industry. In November 2014, 9flats made prepayment optional and allowed user to pay with cash. In October 2016, 9flats acquired

Wimdu Wimdu, powered by HomeToGo, is an online marketplace for booking lodging, accessible by website and mobile app for iOS and Android. The company does not own any lodging; it is merely a broker and receives commissions from every booking. It is se ...

. In December 2016, 9flats sold Wimdu to the Novasol brand of

Wyndham Destinations Travel + Leisure Co. (formerly Wyndham Destinations, Inc. and Wyndham Worldwide Corporation) is an American timeshare company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It develops, sells, and manages timeshare properties under several vacation ownershi ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.9flats.com/ Hospitality services