NUMA raises $59M to grow its hospitality brand across Europe

NUMA Group, a Berlin-based hospitality brand that straddles the space between traditional hotels and short-term rentals, has raised $59 million in Series C funding. The round is led by Verlinvest with participation from Cape Capital and existing investors including Headline, Cherry Ventures, DN Capital and Soravia.

NUMA has more than 4,500 rooms and apartments in 10 countries across 28 cities in Europe including Berlin, Rome, Milan and Barcelona, with a focus on “boutique studios for modern travelers.” 

Founded in 2019 – originally named Cosi – the company said its properties combine the best of hotels – such as consistent quality, 24-hour guest service and luggage storage – with offerings traditionally found in short-term rentals such as larger rooms with kitchens, city center locations and fast WiFi. For guests, the experience is fully digital – from bookings to check-in and check-out and customer service via WhatsApp.

“We have only scratched the surface in terms of digitizing and enhancing the entire travel experience and are always striving to better connect our guests with the cities they’re visiting” said Christian Gaiser, co-founder and CEO NUMA.

“We’re delighted to partner with Verlinvest, whose team shares our vision for transforming the sector and whose expertise in scaling globally successfully business will help us to achieve our goal of creating an iconic brand for the modern traveler. With additional financial firepower, we can accelerate the continued development of our market-leading proprietary technology while maintaining a strong balance sheet. We’re excited to further unlock prime locations across Europe together with our trusted real estate partners, financing partners, and most importantly, our guests.”

And said Raphael Thiolon, managing director of Verlinvest, “In recent years, traditional hotel chains have struggled to respond to the needs of ever more digitally-savvy, time-poor consumers while being constrained by legacy backend infrastructures, large networks of franchisees, and slow-moving cultures. NUMA provides a holistic solution to these problems with its user-friendly interface on the front end and its new tech-first, data-led model that optimizes business processes on the back end.”

In May 2022, NUMA entered a strategic partnership with LaSalle Investment Management to acquire, refurbish and manage a €500 million portfolio of properties around Western Europe. Earlier that year the startup had raised a $45 million round.