LAHORE: Islamabad-based Roomy Hotels (Private) Limited (Roomy.pk) has closed a $1 million Pre-Series A round led by Lakson Venture Capital (Lakson VC).
The announcement was made on Friday at 021Disrupt by Lakson VC Managing Director Faisal Aftab. Besides Lakson, other investors in the round included Islamabad-based Karavan VC and a syndicate of angel investors.
Roomy.pk is a business that shares budget hotel market economy with unbranded hotel property owners, making it affordable for people to obtain branded quality hotel facilities at a cheaper price by tapping the underutilised inventory of local unbranded budget hotels.
Roomy has been able to leverage technology to develop a proprietary solution that is transforming customer experience and hotel management, while enabling the company to achieve rapid, data-driven growth.
Some of the features offered to travelers across properties include guaranteed online bookings, contactless check-in, check-out (no front desk queuing), standardised rooms and branded amenities.
The team is spearheaded by Goldman Sachs and Carnegie Mellon alumnus Dr Asad Samar, who is the founder and the CEO. Co-founder Haasin bin Zahid from Jovago joins as chief operating officer and Abdul Rehman from Convo Telenor as the chief technology officer.
“Roomy is a fresh take on the traditional hospitality business. Our rooms are decked out with aesthetically pleasing minimalist interiors, price points tailored for the young and growing Pakistani middle class, tech-stack developed in-house for the smart traveler and an innovative business model designed for scale,” said Asad Samar.
Pakistan’s middle class is projected to grow to 122 million by 2025, the largest increase after China and India. 130 million Pakistanis are below the age of 30 consisting of millennials and Gen Zers who are eager to travel.
The local hospitality industry is 3 per cent of the GDP with an expected year-on-year growth of 5.4 per cent; while tourism makes up 7 per cent of the country’s GDP. There are more than 50 million domestic tourists each year and the number will likely increase due to global travel restrictions.
“The hospitality and travel industry in Pakistan is an underserved market segment with a multi-billion-dollar market opportunity. Roomy is our second pick in the travel vertical as it has a scalable asset-light business model; while addressing the market gap for younger domestic leisure and corporate budget travelers, offering optimally priced standardised rooms and amenities in key locations,” said Faisal Aftab, who has also joined Roomy.pk’s board of directors.
