Private equity fund manager Calculus Capital has announced a £3.5 million investment in Avvio, a Limerick-based supplier of internet technology to the hotel and hospitality sector.
The firm, which also has offices in Dublin and London, provides advanced booking conversions software to a number of hoteliers, including Dalata, Ireland's biggest hotel group.
Led by chief executive and founder Frank Reeves, Avvio employs 40 people and serves more than 350 customers in seven countries.
It currently looks after about 200 hotels in Ireland with clients such as The Merrion, Ashford Castle and The Gresham. In the UK, it is working with 45 hotels including The Rathbone Hotel and Sopwell House.
Avvio said the new investment would allow the firm to accelerate its roll out in the UK, expand its marketing efforts and continue to evolve its booking conversion technology.
“We are growing quickly in the UK. We’ve just signed a group of 500 luxury serviced apartments called Cheval Residences in central London and we have a number of five star hotels sucha as the Wellesley and the Arch hotels. Our biggest challenge is just getting out there. It’s a very competitive space as every hotel has a booking engine but there’s a very big difference in terms of how one converts a visitor into a booking,” said Mr Reeves.
“The investors obviously saw that while the market is competitive we make a hell of a difference and that there’s a big market opportunity for us. Initially, we’re focused on the UK but we have hotels that have a wider reach and our plan would be to scale up internationally beyond that,”he added.
Calculus Capital's investment director Richard Moore said the group was excited to be invested in Avvio.
“The Avvio platform has the potential to transform the revenue and profits of hoteliers worldwide and we look forward to helping its expansion both in the UK and abroad,” he said.
Stephen Moore, managing director of Princelet Partners, acted as the corporate finance advisor to Avvio.
