Fikäfi
Headquarters: Singapore (Remote)
CEO: Andre Privateer
Website: Fikäfi
Founding date: January 2025
Investment: Self-funded plus angel investment through pre-seed
Pictured (L to R): Co-founders Shahjahan Chaudhary, Andre Privateer and Imran Saeed
Fikäfi is redefining how hotels get paid—not another booking channel but the payment layer beneath all of them: direct, OTA and offline B2B. It puts a stop to Booking.com defections and helps recover the 70% of direct bookings that start and never complete payment. No new systems, no integration—hotels activate Fikäfi and start capturing revenue that used to disappear.
PhocusWire coverage:
Below, we asked co-founder and CEO Andre Privateer to share strategic priorities for 2027 and what has been learned since founding.
Strategic goals for 2027
One solution, not three. That's the goal for 2027. Fikäfi already includes managed services: an experienced revenue and distribution manager for the cost of an intern. Now we add the PMS, the channel manager, the booking engine at no cost. Think OEM—a car maker badges best-in-class parts as one product. We do the same with payments. Less complexity for the 15 to 60-room hotel. More value, same relationship they already trust.
Key lessons learned since founding
We were having the wrong conversation. Large hotels want features—another checklist, another integration. Independent hotels earning under $500,000 a year in profit want lower cost, fewer hires, less training. So the product isn't another feature. It's eliminating software cost outright and putting a full-time expert on OTAs and distribution, cutting staffing cost at the same time. Solve it, and the hotel adds 25% to 50% to its bottom line.
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