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Canary, the hotel guest management platform, announced Thursday the raise of an $80 million Series D in a round led by Brighton Park Capital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Harman Singh Narula and childhood friend SJ Sawhney launched the company in 2018 to help hotels digitize and automate guest interactions. The company has raised nearly $180 million in funding to date.<\/p>\n
\u201cRunning a hotel is increasingly complex,\u201d Singh Narula told TechCrunch. \u201cGuest expectations are constantly evolving, and staffing shortages continue to strain operations. We felt the hotel market was underserved by technology and that modern solutions could help hoteliers elevate the guest experience, improve profitability, and operate more efficiently.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Singh Narula said Canary offers a product suite that encompasses every part of the guest journey, from booking to departure. He said, for example, the company offers services that let hotel guests check in on mobile devices or text the front desk for help. And it\u2019s leaning into AI in serving its customers\u2019 guests through voice, web, and text with an LLM, sometimes offering instant responses.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cThe guest\u2019s user experience is completely customized and branded for each hotel,\u201d he continued. \u201cSo, as a guest, you may not know that Canary helped enable your travel experience. With that said, if you\u2019ve stayed in hotels recently, odds are you\u2019ve utilized Canary as we now work with 20,000 hotels across 100-plus countries.\u201d Companies that use Canary include the Rosewood Hotels, Marriott, Best Western, and Wyndham.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not that Canary has no competition: Other management software companies in this space include Cloudbeds and Revinate, according to PitchBook.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Singh Narula described his fundraising efforts as opportunistic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we weren\u2019t actively fundraising, the opportunity emerged to bring in the right partners with strong alignment on vision, values, and where we\u2019re headed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Other investors, including Y Combinator, Insight Partners, and Fidelity, participated in the round.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Singh Narula said the capital will be used to help grow the company and hire more employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see travel as one of the most powerful ways people connect with the world,\u201d he said. \u201cWe believe Canary has an important role to play in making those experiences more personal, more memorable, and more meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n