HyperGuest raises $25 million from Apax as AI changes how hotels reach travelers
The Israeli travel-tech company connects hotels with travel companies, technology providers and AI agents and has processed more than $1 billion in transactions.
HyperGuest has raised $25 million from AMI, the mid-market investment arm of Apax Partners.
According to the company, HyperGuest currently connects tens of thousands of hotels with thousands of travel companies and technology providers around the world. The company recently surpassed $1 billion in cumulative TTV, or total transaction volume, processed through its platform.
Founded in 2020, HyperGuest has developed technology infrastructure that enables hotels and travel companies, including booking sites, travel agencies, AI agents and travel-tech firms, to connect and work directly with one another without requiring a separate technical integration for every new commercial partnership.
The company was founded shortly before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic by CEO Nir Yaron, CPO Amit Rahav, COO Moshik Kantor and Noam Rotem, who is no longer active in the company.
HyperGuest currently employs approximately 160 people across 21 countries. About a quarter of its workforce, including its headquarters, is based in Israel. The company also maintains offices close to key markets in the US, Europe, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina and elsewhere.
Before the latest funding round, HyperGuest had raised $28 million from investors including Lightspeed, Viola Ventures, the Altshuler fund and travel-tech fund THYAR.
Speaking with Calcalist, Yaron said HyperGuest operates in the travel-tech sector, focusing on hotels and the broader booking ecosystem.
"It is a trillion-dollar market that is growing rapidly," he said. "A major issue in the market is that B2B players are forced to make bookings through non-digital channels or intermediaries."
According to Yaron, B2B travel transactions are more complicated than consumer bookings because they involve multiple reservations, technology systems and operational processes.
"Companies require a solution that integrates with their existing technology, an experience distinct from that of a private consumer," he said. "The B2B landscape remains unresolved. There is fragmentation regarding technology on both the hotel side and among technology providers. There is a proliferation of technologies with no single interface connecting them all."
Yaron said the complexity extends beyond technology because companies also need to manage the operational and payment aspects of the booking process.
"We are developing a holistic solution that offers room inventory and direct contracts with hotel chains or boutique hotels in a simple, streamlined manner," he said.
The company also sees the rise of AI agents and large language models as a major change in the travel industry.
"Apax was familiar with our sector, approached us and was very impressed by what we do. They wanted to invest even more than they initially planned," Yaron said. "We were founded to solve B2B problems, specifically those requiring scalability, and AI is transforming this entire landscape. It represents a tectonic shift."
Yaron said the growing use of AI-based search could change how travelers discover and book hotels.
"Our users grew up with Google and Booking," he said. "The strength of companies like Booking lies in their consumer-facing ability to draw you in, yet much of that is becoming less relevant because today everything begins with a chat interface where the search actually takes place."
While large language models can search for information and make recommendations on behalf of users, they still require access to structured and reliable data.
"LLMs are capable of querying and searching on your behalf, but they require data input," Yaron said. "We were built for this specific environment. We took everything we had developed and integrated it into this new reality."
Yaron said hotels, particularly those without extensive technology capabilities, need infrastructure that allows them to participate in this changing environment.
"Hotels are not inherently tech-savvy. They need solutions to navigate the technological landscape," he said. "There is an urgent need to address these challenges, and by working with numerous hotels, we are making this new world accessible to them."
HyperGuest also operates in financial technology, allowing transactions to be handled through its platform.
"We are also a fintech company that enables the handling of the transaction itself from a payment perspective," Yaron said.
The company is targeting a long-standing problem in the hotel distribution market, which relies on a large number of systems, connectivity providers and intermediaries.
As a result, even when a hotel and a travel company want to work directly with one another, establishing the technical connection and managing their commercial agreement can be complicated.
HyperGuest's platform brings together availability and pricing data, hotel content and the commercial rules required to establish and manage these partnerships.
Apax is one of the world's longest-standing investment firms and has raised approximately $80 billion over the years. The firm also has experience in travel and hospitality technology through investments including IBS Software, Israeli company Guesty and Go Global Travel. Its team includes former senior executives from the travel industry.
Zehavit Cohen, a partner at Apax Partners, said HyperGuest is addressing a fundamental challenge in the hotel industry.
"HyperGuest is solving one of the hotel industry's fundamental challenges through distinctive technology and is experiencing impressive growth momentum," Cohen said. "We are delighted to partner with Nir and the team as they expand their global operations and transform the way hotels and travel companies do business with each other."
