9flats

9flats is a peer-to-peer property rental company for private accommodations. Travelers book to stay in other people’s residences^[1] and property owners rent out their private accommodations.^[2]

It was launched by German internet entrepreneur Stephan Uhrenbacher – founder of Qype, and former head of northern European operations for lastminute.com.^[2][3] The site is a European competitor to the US-based Airbnb.^[4] In 2014 Roman Bach was named CEO. Uhrenbacher moved to the advisory board.^[5]

History

The founders secured funding from venture capital fund eVenture Capital Partners (CityDeal/Groupon) and launched 9flats.com in February 2011^[2] with an inventory of 5,000 places.^[6] The company was based in nine different locations around the world,^[7] but is now headquartered in Hamburg.^[2]

In May 2011, 9flats secured another round of investment from venture capital funds Redpoint Ventures (HomeAway), ProFounder (ex-lastminute.com) and Greycroft Partners, bringing the total funding to US$10 million.^[8] In January 2012, 9flats completed a round of funding led by T-Venture, the venture capital arm of Deutsche Telekom AG. This round included Redpoint Ventures and E-Venture Capital Partners (Hamburg).^[9]

In April 2012, 9flats had over 50,000 members and 30,000 hosts^[10] in 104 countries.^[11]

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.^[12][13]

In August 2012, 9flats acquired the Toronto-based competitor istopover, extending its service to North America and growing its property base to 100.000 apartments.^{[14] [15]}

9flats is growing by 300% despite tight competition.^[16] In March 2013 9flats introduced bitcoin as payment method and is ever since supporting projects around the cryptocurrency.^[17]

In 2014 9flats announced that it is the first profitable player in the Social Travel Industry.^[5]

In November 2014 9flats introduced a new payment option: book now, pay later.^[18]

Business model

The website uses a collaborative consumption model^[19] to enable people to share resources. People looking for short-term accommodation book other people’s private places online or through a telephone booking line, and property owners pay a fee for this service. 9flats is the only player in this field that does not charge the guest anything - all fees are paid by the Host.^[20]

References

External links

• 9flats.com Official site