Real-time hotel distribution management startup RezNext gets $5M from NEA

Bangalore-based RezNext Global Solutions Pvt Ltd, a startup that offers real-time distribution management solutions for hotels, has secured $5 million in funding from New Enterprise Associates (NEA).

"This funding will help us substantially increase our market penetration, deliver our full product portfolio, and ensure that our customers and partners succeed through increased collaboration, great customer service and improved revenues. This will also fuel our expansion plans in the domestic and international markets," said Mike Kistner, CEO of RezNext.

The startup was founded in 2012, and is currently being headed by Kistner, who has over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry, online operations and technology. Earlier, he was earlier CEO of Pegasus Solutions. Previously, he was CIO and senior VP (e-commerce) at Best Western International.

RezNext offers a distribution technology for hotels in a real-time environment, helping them automate the current complex hotel distribution landscape. The company claims its technology also levels the playfield for lower and mid-scale hotels, allowing them to quickly get online and leverage the opportunity the internet presents today.

RezNext claims to have already on-boarded 1200-plus customers to its intelligent distribution platform. It is now expanding operations into Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

"RezNext's real-time distribution technology enables hotels to harness the enormous online distribution opportunity and evolve their room reservation processes into a digital business hub that powers the organization's growth," said Ben Mathias, partner and executive director of the NEA's India operations.

"We are confident that RezNext will continue its growth trajectory as the hospitality world increasingly becomes dependent on real time data-rich applications to manage their distribution operations efficiently and profitably," he added.

NEA is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With more than $13 billion in committed capital, the firm invests in information technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company's lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. NEA's long track record of successful investing includes more than 195 portfolio company IPOs and more than 320 acquisitions.

Recently, NEA's partner Rohini Chakravarthy launched Inksedge, an online platform for personalised events cards and stationery, and secured $1.5 million (Rs 9 crore) in seed funding led by NEA.

Last month, Hotelogix, a SaaS-based property management system (PMS) for small and medium scale hotels, secured $1.8 million in fresh funding from Accel Partners and Saama Capital.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)