New York-based travel startup Hoken
has raised $9 million for its event-focused lodging marketplace,
which is expected to launch in the coming days.
The round was led by Streamlined Ventures, with BY
Venture Partners and individual financial and family investors also
participating.
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Hoken says its vision is to provide a “highly
curated and flexible hotel exchange and marketplace for the world’s most
popular events.” Initially, events will include New Year’s Eve in Times Square, Sundance Film
Festival, SXSW, Coachella and Art Basel.
Consumers purchase a room through Hoken in advance of an
event and trade the room if they are unable to attend - or simply to make a
profit, according to the company.
For hotels, Hoken says it enables forward-selling of inventory,
real-time market pricing and insights and incremental revenue during high
compression periods - with no commissions or distribution costs.
“We are passionate about our mission to drive flexibility,
accessibility, incremental guests and increased revenue within the lodging
industry,” says Tarek M. Daouk, co-founder and CEO at Hoken.
“In a world where everything is tradable, from concert
tickets to sneakers, we are providing enhanced liquidity to an asset class -
online room bookings - that generate more than $550 billion in sales
annually,” Daouk adds.
Founders of Hoken have worked at Expedia Group, eBay,
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.
Hospitality tech company Canary Technologies secured
$30 million in Series B funding in October to enhance its platform’s
solutions, which include contactless check-in and
checkout, guest messaging and digital tipping.
That same month, blockchain-based hotel marketplace Pinktada
closed an
investment round of $975,000 to facilitate expansion.