- Technology investor Ventech leads acquisition process for TrustYou to buy back full ownership of the company’s shares
- TrustYou is the All-in-One Guest Experience Platform that provides a suite of guest feedback and hotel reputation management solutions
- TrustYou is looking to add and develop technology to increase customer satisfaction and grow in the hospitality industry
Munich/Berlin, 2nd of February 2023 - Technology investor Ventech leads the buyback of TrustYou shares and enables the platform to expand and grow in the hospitality space.
Founded in 2008 in Munich (Germany), TrustYou has grown from a humble start-up and led the way in travel tech with a strong leadership team. Managed since 2017 under the umbrella of Recruit Group, TrustYou was – with the help of Ventech as the main investor – able to buy its management back and announce a new strategic direction.
TrustYou’s guest feedback platform collects and analyzes customer reviews of accommodation providers, enabling hotels with insights to improve their guest experience and market to future guests. With a proven business model, a database including 92% of the world's hotels and a customer retention rate of over 90%, the ambitious TrustYou team is on the right track to consolidate the industry and drive this new wave of innovation.
Christian Claussen, General Partner at Ventech, and Jan Webering from BauwnsX led the buyout financing. TrustYou founder and CEO Ben Jost also bought back significant shares in the acquisition. Ullrich Kastner, founder and CEO of MyHotelShop, rounds out the remaining capital contribution.
“The global market for hotel and hospitality management software is bouncing back and expected to grow to $5 billion by 2027. We are, therefore, confident that there are incredible possibilities within the industry to push the latest digitization process even further and create a whole new experience for guests. When the opportunity presented itself to invest in TrustYou and its team, it was an easy decision. In fact, we see a clear path to create a well-rounded tool. We have complete confidence in the team, and product, to deliver outstanding results,” said Christian Claussen, General Partner at Ventech.
With new ownership comes a new vision for the company
Ben Jost, CEO of TrustYou, adds: “We see TrustYou's future in helping hospitality and travel businesses to concentrate on what matters most to them: happy guests. Today's core focus is to provide a best-in-class platform for hoteliers, DMO's and travel partners to measure and act on guest happiness via surveys, reviews, and guest communication. We will also be very active in acquiring and building more best-of-breed technology and tools to create a single entry point, further increase guest happiness and revenue while decreasing operational costs.”
The TrustYou tech to match industry trends
The pandemic, combined with the recent recession, continues to have a massive impact on international travel. At the same time, there is an inherent push for adoption of travel tech in the last three years. The investment in this new technology and contactless communication method sustainably changed the way travel and hospitality businesses operated and connected with guests. As the industry evolves and guests become more adaptable, the new holding will focus on creating value by adding and developing technologies that support hospitality providers in delivering an exceptional guest experience.
About TrustYou:
TrustYou was founded in 2008 in Munich and scaled up on its own until 2017, until it was acquired by Recruit Group. It now counts 150 employees and global offices in Singapore, Tokyo, San Diego, Madrid and Romania.
TrustYou is an All-in-One Guest Experience (GX) Platform that provides a suite of guest feedback and hotel reputation management solutions designed for the travel and hospitality industries. It makes communication with customers easy, powerful, and actionable. The platform unlocks the potential of guest feedback and helps to: create unlimited opportunities to listen and respond to guests’ needs; understand all reviews across the web and make better business decisions; publish hotel reviews on the website and on Google and allow positive feedback to influence bookings. Find out more on TrustYou and the GX platform on www.trustyou.com.
About Ventech:
Ventech is a global early-stage venture capital firm with a strong digital focus. Founded in 1998, Ventech backs the most innovative and visionary tech entrepreneurs with a global ambition. With its dual structure platform, Ventech has dedicated funds for Europe (Paris, Munich, Berlin & Helsinki) and Asia (Shanghai and Hong Kong).
Since its inception, Ventech has raised over 900m€, and has realized over 200 investments, (including Vestiaire Collective, Passion.io, Ogury, Picanova, Veo, Reveal, Speexx) and over 90 exits (Fintecsystems - acquired by Tink; Believe (BLV.PA) – listed on Euronext; Arteris (AIP) listed on Nasdaq). For more information, visit www.ventechvc.com. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @Ventech_VC
