Philly hospitality tech startup HopSkip raises $3M seed round
Summary
We decided to fundraise to triple down on our beliefs and conviction of our platform solving a real problem and wanting to continue innovating and empowering our customers, Sean Whalin, cofounder and CEO of HopSkip, told Technical.ly.Center City-based HopSkip was a runner up on the 2020 RealLIST Startups list, but soon after that the company was impacted by the pandemic and the pause in in-person events.During that time, the company tried to stay connected to its customers and community. Now, HopSkip is reaping the benefits as a profitable company.By doing all of that has kind of set us up for some really good momentum, Whalin said. Around 40% of bootstrapped companies remain profitable after five years.Founded in 2019, HopSkip targets meeting and hospitality professionals and helps them book event spaces and room blocks at hotels. There are now over 150,000 hotels on HopSkip, per Whalin.The new funding will be used for new hires, for marketing to grow the customer base, and for improvements to the companys platform, he said. Plans include adding artificial intelligence features and increasing the global database of venues offered on the platform, including beyond its current reach in Europe and North America.