Industry News

Stay22 banks $750k in seed round

Stay22, an event and travel technology startup, has raised $750,000 in a seed round as it looks to “transform the way event travellers book accommodation.”

The company intends to use the funding to grow its team and further develop its product.

Vancouver-based Gate Ventures, with the participation of Real Ventures, led the seed round.

Stay22, which was founded in 2016, is an embeddable accommodation map solution for organisations and platforms in the events, entertainment, sports, and transportation industries to help attendees and travellers find a place to stay.

Stay22’s interactive map aggregates the best prices available online, with access to more than 6.5 million listings globally across 200 countries.

“The necessity to allow event organisers to focus on putting out the best show to their audience quickly and efficiently is highly important. Stay22 has made a notably valuable product for event organisers that leapfrogs the cumbersome arrangements that came before it,” said Ali Saheli, partner at 7 Gates Venture and new board member at Stay22.

Stay22 has already accumulated over $600,000 in accommodation bookings in Q1 of 2018.

The firm’s partners include rock band Pearl Jam, Canadian promoter Evenko and self-serving ticketing and RFID solution based firm Weezevent.

Pearl Jam’s fan club members have been able to search for and book accommodation for the band’s upcoming HOME & AWAY US Summer 2018 tour using Stay22’s maps.

“Event organisers have been using costly room blocks for decades,” said Stay22 chief executive, Andrew Lockhead.

“But the majority of the event organisers around the globe have not yet tried a map-based accommodation system. With no solution made for their needs to save time and money, they were disadvantaged in a function that’s critical for every multi-day event.”

Image: Stay22 PR