HotelTonight, an iPhone app for same-day hotel bookings, will have plenty of days ahead of it, now that it has secured $3.25 million in a series A funding round led by Battery Ventures.
In addition to Battery Ventures [Groupon and Gogobot], also participating in the round were Accel Partners [Facebook, Groupon and Kayak] and travel industry veterans Rich Barton, Erik Blachford, Brad Gerstner and Hugh Crean.
HotelTonight founder and CEO Sam Shank had this to say about the investment:
We are thrilled to work with world-class investors to build the best brand in next-generation travel. The additional funding will allow us to balance our focus on developing great technology with an equally important emphasis on sales, marketing and awareness.
The company plans to use the proceed to expand beyond the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch arena into other mobile platforms, to add functionality, expand its reach and develop new marketing campaigns.
The app distinguishes itself for its speed and same-day -- up until 2 a.m. -- hotel bookings.
Since its launch late last year, the free app has had more than 300,000 downloads and nearly 200 hotels across the U.S. participate, the company says.
With the funding, Brian O'Malley, a partner at Battery Ventures, takes a seat on the HotelTonight board.