Ashton Kutcher invests in hotel tech startup Life House
Boutique hotel brand draws $30M in funding round
FOX Business' Kristina Partsinevelos provides insight into how the hotel industry has been impacted from the coronavirus on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Ashton Kutcher is among the investors who led a $30 million funding round for a “tech-enabled lifestyle hotel” startup, the company announced Friday.
Life House launched in 2018. It currently has four hotels and lists three more opening this year on its website. The New York-based company said in a press release that it expects to have 25 hotels open by early next year.
In addition to its boutique hotels, Life House develops software for hotels, including automated financial accounting and reporting applications, an algorithmic pricing system and an employee-facing property management system.
Life House Collins Park, Denver, Brooklyn, and South of Fifth (Photo: Business Wire)
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CEO Rami Zeidan said in a press release that he founded the company with plans to “fix” the hotel industry through software innovation and authentic local brands.
“The hotel industry is broken, leaving hotel owners with painfully unprofitable hotels and travelers with expensive or suboptimal hotel experiences,” Zeidan said. “Most of these problems are solved with software, while others are solved with innovation in the supply chain of our services.”
Life House said its platform has driven 40 percent revenue increases while cutting operating costs by 45 percent. The company said 65 percent of its bookings come directly through its website and it anticipates making a profit in 18-24 months.
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Ashton Kutcher speaks onstage during WeWork Presents Second Annual Creator Global Finals. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for WeWork).
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As Life House expands its hotels into new markets, the company said it’s planning to add a unique option for families or groups of friends: luxury bunk beds. The beds feature full-size mattresses and stairs, sleeping as many as four adults.
The company has raised $40.4 million in funding so far, according to CrunchBase.
In addition to Kutcher’s Sound Ventures, the new funding round was led by Thayer Ventures, Tiger Global and JLL Spark.