In the face of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, an artificial intelligence-driven hospitality startup has secured its largest round to date.
Pruvo, an Israeli-based startup that increases profitability for travel companies by automatically rebooking hotel reservations when the price drops, announced it has raised $1.1 million.
SeedRocket 4Founders Capital of Spain led the seed round, with participation from angel investors in Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Israel.
With the funding, the company plans to expand both its sales and development teams.
Says Pruvo chief commercial officer Doron Nadivi: “Pre-seed and seed funding are probably the most difficult rounds to raise amid [an] economic downturn, not to mention during complete havoc like coronavirus is creating.
“This is due to the fact that startups in these phases are still young, vulnerable and many without revenue yet (or are not yet cash flow positive).”
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In order to help travel companies maximize profits for reservations that have not been canceled due to COVID-19, Pruvo announced that it is waiving the setup fees for its “repricing” tool for the following months.
The company also hopes that its story motivates other travel tech startups to achieve goals despite the situation.
“Just like in the story of the 4-minute mile, once one company proves that it is possible, others will soon follow,” says Nadivi.
“Yes, our fundraising round was much more difficult as of the 10th of February due to the virus and potential closes were lost, but the end goal of $1.1 million was achieved and closed during these unprecedented times.